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THE 



CHILDREN 



NEW TESTAMENT. 



" Of such is the kingdom of heaven." — Jesus, 

" How oft, heart-sick and sore, 
I've wished I were, once more, 

A little child!" — Mrs. Southet. 

CCPYftiSHl 





BY 

REV. THEOPHILUS STORK, D.D, 



f&&. 



- < ♦»♦• » - 



PHILADELPHIA: A 
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON. 
1854. 



3 S 1+44 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY J. FAG AX. PRINTED BY C. SHERMAN. 



♦o 



PREFACE. 

It was on a bright and balmy afternoon in the leafy 

month of May, as we sat with a friend on a grassy 

knoll, overlooking the picturesque scenery of the 

Schuylkill, that the idea of this little book was first 

suggested. Surrounded with the fresh and springing 

beauty of the season, we felt ourselves in sympathy with 

nature, rejuvenated, and, as in our childhood, every 

thing seemed — 

" Apparelled in celestial light, 
The glory and the freshness of a dream." 

It was by a very natural association in our minds, 
that the conversation turned upon little children. Our 
friend, for many years a faithful Sunday School teacher, 
related several touching incidents of recent occurrence 
in his school, illustrating the fond affection ©f little chil- 
dren for those manifesting a kindly interest in them, 

(iii) 



IV PREFACE. 

and how quick and responsive their sympathy to every 
token of kindliness and love. 

After some interchange of sentiment upon this 
attractive feature of childhood, our thoughts turned 
to the several scenes in the New Testament, in which 
little children were brought to view in attitudes and 
relations so beautiful and attractive. And the opinion 
was mutually expressed, that a collection of these 
scenes, with such reflections as they would naturally 
suggest, into the form of a little book, might prove 
both interesting and profitable. 

The idea has been actualized and embodied in 
this little work. As it makes no great pretensions, it 
needs no apology. 

Originality belongs to comparatively few. We have 
not hesitated to adopt leading ideas from Olshausen 
and other German writers, as well as from Chalmers, 
Melvill, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Cheever, and others.* 
Where we have employed the thoughts and phraseology 
of others, we have acknowledged our indebtedness by 
the usual marks of quotation. 

If the poetical quotations are numerous, it is owing 
partly to our fondness for thoughts in that form of 

* This acknowledgment is especially applicable to chapters 2d and 3d. 



PREFACE. V 

expression, as well as to the fact, that our thoughts 
assume their best attitudes aud loveliest attire in Poetry, 
which is "the blossom and fragrancy of all human 
knowledge.'' 

The idea that a book is original, in proportion to 
the absence of all quotational signs, is, we think, a 
fallacy. There may be least originality, where there 
are no signs of quotation. And according to D'Israeli, 
the man who never quotes from others, is, in turn, 
rarely ever quoted by any body else. 

The reader will notice, that in the classification 
of the Scripture scenes, we have inverted the order 
observed in the sacred record. The reason of this 
will be at once obvious, and, therefore, needs no 
explanation. 

Our design has been simply to bring consecutively 
to view, these picture scenes of little children in the 
New Testament, and evolve the moral lessons they 
infold, and apply them to practical improvement. 
And, if this humble effort shall serve to awaken a 
livelier interest, and a more solemn sense of responsi- 
bility, in our relations to little children, and quicken 
the efforts of Christians, in the religious education of 

the young, under a conviction of their important 
1* 



VI PREFACE. 

instrumental connection with the advancement of 
Christ's kingdom, we shall be satisfied. 

And we are encouraged in the hope of such a result, 
from the fact, that a book small in size and attractive 
in its outward appearance, may find access, where 
books of larger bulk, and more elaborate argument, 
would be unwelcome. " Ships of small draught may- 
sail up the tributary streams of the popular mind, 
where vessels of heavy tonnage cannot be admitted.'' 

We commend this plea for little children — and 
these affectionate monitions to Christian parents — and 
the consolatory thoughts for the bereaved, to the Spirit 
and blessing of — 

" Him, whose praise I seek — 
Whose frown can disappoint the proudest aim, 
Whose approbation, prosper even mine." 

Philadelphia, Dec. 1853. 



FRIENDS 



txlWt GJU*»i,. 



SCRIPTURE SCENES 



AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 



AND DEDICATED 



AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE I. 

INTRODUCTION.- — THE WONDERS OF BETH- 
LEHEM. 

The " Holy Child Jesus." The Childhood and Youth of 
Christ. The Devout Simeon, with the infant Saviour in 
his arms. Jesus among the Doctors in the Temple. The 
sympathy of Christ with little children. The beauty of 
childhood. Poetical quotations from Wordsworth 25 

CHAPTER II. 

LITTLE CHILDREN BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 

Explanation of the scene in Mark x. 13-14. The Disci- 
ples' conduct. The probable reasons of their interference. 
The Saviour's displeasure at their conduct. His affec- 
tionate welcome to children. How parents now may pre- 
vent children from going to Christ. An earnest dissuasive 
from such deportment. The importance of example. The 
influence of the home-spirit. The positive duty of bring- 
ing our children to the Saviour 50 

(ix) 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

Explanation of the temple-scene, Matt. xxi. 15-16. The 
hosanna of the children. The displeasure of the priests 
and scribes. The Saviour's vindication of the children. 
Ps. viii. 2, explained. The importance of early impres- 
sions. Reformation. National education. Sunday schools. 
Facts, showing that children trained in religion will be- 
come the champions of truth and virtue. Beautiful visions 
of the future , , 77 

CHAPTER IV. 

TIMOTHY. 

His early religious education. The influence of maternal 
piety. Eunice an example for the imitation of mothers. 
The " child father of the man/' Instruction and piety 
combined. Encouragement to pious mothers 95 

CHAPTER V. 

THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 

Explanation of the scene. Seeming incongruity. Vindica- 
tion of Divine Providence, in the massacre of the infants. 
Infant martyrs. The scene, suggestive of the following 
topics : 

1. The death of little children. Sources of consolation. 
Providence. Infant salvation. 



CONTENTS. XI 

2. Mission of children. The advent of a little child in the 
family. The child at home. The sick and dying child. 
The memory. 

3. Children in heaven. Beautiful aspect of the heavenly 
home. 

4. Recognition. Difficulties of the doctrine. Scriptural 
aspect of the subject. David. Recognition of the loved 
and lost in heaven 108 

Conclusion 185 



THE 



CHILDREN OF THE NEW 
TESTAMENT. 

Cfjapfu fix si 

THE HOLY CHILD JE S US. — Acts iv. 27. 



" ! is it not a blessed thought, 
Children of human birth, 
That once the Saviour was a child, 
And lived upon the earth?" 



There is an obvious propriety in devoting this first 
chapter to the "Holy Child Jesus. " In proposing to 
speak of the little children of the New Testament, the 
first place is due to the pre-eminence of the Divine 
Child; and, in addition to the moral fitness of this 
arrangement, it is also in harmony with the order of 
the sacred history. 

3 ( 25 > 



26 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

Our first ideas of the Saviour, derived from scripture 
prophecy and history, are associated with his coming 
as a little child. The most remote, as well as the proxi- 
mate intimations of his advent, w T ere given in the pro- 
mise of a child. The first promise that sounded amid 
the wreck of Eden, like the first notes of the Gospel, 
and arched the clouded earth with the bright rainbow 
of hope, was given in language that awakened the 
expectation that the promised Messiah would come as a 
little child. Such seems to have been the idea of our 
primeval Mother, causing that simple and childlike 
outburst of her heart, as she looked upon her first-born 
son, with the words of joy and transport, "I have 
gotten a man from the Lord ! " words expressive of the 
secret hope of her heart that her first-born son was the 
promised "seed of the woman." 

Among the most distinct announcements of his 
coming, in the Messianic prophecies, is that of the rap- 
turous Isaiah, catching, in prophetic vision, a glimpse 
of the wonders of Bethlehem, exclaiming — "Unto us 
a child is born ; unto us a son is given ; and the go- 
vernment shall be upon his shoulders, and his name 
shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, 
The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 27 

inspired prophet sees the Mighty God, the Prince of 
Peace, in that little child in Bethlehem. 

And "when the fulness of the time" was at hand, 
the proximate intimation of the fact w T as given in the 
promise made to the devout Zacharias, that his wife 
Elizabeth should bear him a son, and that he should 
be a holy child, and many should rejoice at his birth." 
Luke i. 13, 14, 15. 

And as the ecstatic father folded that son of promise 
in his arms, he was moved to pour forth the gushing 
emotions of his joy in the prophetic exclamation, " Thou, 
child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest!" — 
He saw in that child the Forerunner of the Messiah — 
the beauteous morning-star that heralds the coming 
day. 

" The Harbinger of the Gospel was a sanctified little 
child." 

In harmony with these pre-intimations, the Messiah 
came as a child. "When the humble shepherds received 
the message, "Unto you is lorn a Saviour," and had 
listened with bewildered joy to his birth-hymn sung by 
the angels, " Glory to God in the highest," they went 
to Bethlehem, and found Mary and Joseph, and the 
Babe lying in a manger. 



28 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

The Magi of Persia saw His star in the evening sky, 
beckoning them to Judea. It was to them the star of 
Jacob, and, moved by a divine impulse, they make their 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and inquire, "Where is he 
that is born King of the Jews ? " Directed to Bethle- 
hem, they renew their journey — " and lo ! the star which 
they saw in the east went before them, till it came and 
stood over where the young child was." They were 
filled with ecstatic joy — " the morning-star of their hope 
had become the evening-star of their desire accom- 
plished.' ' 

" And when they were come into the house, they saw 
the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down 
and worshipped Sim'' 

Thus beautiful are the associations of Messiah's king- 
dom with a little child. Nor are we to regard it as an 
unmeaning coincidence. There is a touching signifi- 
cance in the fact that the Son of God came as a little 
child, yet a Saviour. " It was to teach us that he is the 
Saviour of little children, who bear his likeness more 
closely than the best disciple of mature years ever can, 
as well as of the adults who believe in his name. It 
was to claim the whole world of infancy as his own, 
however men might reject his grace. It was to assure 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 29 

the anxious mother bending over his image in her 

child, that 

She may trust her sweet babe through the hour of danger, 
To the mercy of Him, who was laid in a manger." 

As we turn and look at that picture of the Nativity, 
(as represented in our frontispiece,) and recall the won- 
ders of Bethlehem, we feel the dread but touching mys- 
tery which surrounds the Babe in the manger, and our 
hearts are bowed with the prostrate Magi in worship. 

That little child is the incarnate God! a Being at 
once human and divine. That little hand is the hand 
of Him who of old laid the foundations of the earth, 
and stretched abroad the heavens as a curtain; that 
infant cry is the voice of Him, who, in the beginning, 
said, "Let there be light, and there was light !" Our 
reason is bewildered, and our conceptions of what we 
see are dim and misty. Can this be what was promised 
in Paradise Lost ? Was it this, seen in the dim dis- 
tance, that gladdened the heart of Abraham ? Was it 
this that made the dying eyes of Jacob flash with the 
glory of the latter days ? How can it be ? We look 
again, but our thoughts seem to commingle in a con- 
fused and gloomy shade, and the only distinct con- 
sciousness is that of mystery. We turn to the Gospel, 
3* 



30 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

and read with the scene still before us — "In the begin- 
ning was the Word, and the "Word was with God, and 
the Word was God ; and the Word was made flesh and 
dwelt among us." Then, however it may baffle our 
understanding, that mysterious child is Emmanuel, God 
with us. We receive the incarnation as a fact of Divine 
revelation ; and if any in their stultified reason ask, 
"What kind of a revelation is the revelation of a mys- 
tery ? " we answer that it is the revelation of a fact, all 
the modes and relations of which are not known ; a 
revelation analogous to that of nature — for she sur- 
rounds us with facts, and leaves us in the midst of 
mysteries to wonder and adore. The Bible reveals 
great facts, as the night shows the stars, and, like Na- 
ture, leaves us standing in the midst of infinity, sur- 
rounded with mystery, with a thousand questions un- 
answered. (Hopkins.) 

And there is no conflict between reason and mystery ; 
they are equally conditions of a spiritual but limited 
existence ; and it must be equally obvious, that to finite 
beings, religion dissociated from mystery is impossible. 
A religion without a mystery would be a religion with- 
out spiritual attributes, without immortality, a religion 
without a God! Fichte, speaking of the Incompre- 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 31 

hensible One, says, " What I understand is, from my 
very understanding it, finite, and by no progression 
can ever be transformed into the Infinite. I will not 
attempt that which my finite nature forbids. I will not 
seek to know the nature and essence of thy being." 

It is with something of this feeling I receive the doc- 
trine of the incarnation of the Son of God. I receive 
it as a fact of Divine revelation. It is a dread and im- 
penetrable mystery which transcends my reason, and 
eludes all human analysis. The fact I know, that God 
is incarnate in Christ Jesus ; but the modes and rela- 
tions of the fact are too subtle, too vast, too profound 
for human thought. There is in the mysterious union 
of the Divine and human an inherent necessity, veiling 
it in a profound and sacred obscurity. 

But if it baffles my understanding, it touches and 
moves my heart, as no other fact ever has done, or can 
do. It meets a want of my spiritual nature, which 
nothing else can satisfy. The mind can never rest 
with mere abstractions ; it demands living realities. 
And hence, if it has not this great objective fact of 
Christianity, God in Christ, it will either lose all 
consciousness of God, or, as in Paganism, fashion some 
symbol of divinity, however degrading ; or, as in more 



32 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

thoughtful minds, run into Rationalism, which has its 
real foundation in that theory of Pantheism, " which 
ends in deifying the natural powers of man. For put 
the Incarnation out of view, and Pantheism is the 
natural resource of reflective minds."* 

An abstract spirit, infinite in purity and love, is 
indeed a grand conception ; but it is too cold, 
undefined, and distant, to satisfy the heart. There is 
still a conscious yearning for something to unite, 
according to Schleirmacher's view, the human con- 
sciousness with the Divine. And this is found in 
Christ. In him God draws nigh to us, and we see and 
feel his glory in the face of Jesus. In him we have a 
living incarnation of the Godhead. And though to 
the understanding it is a solemn and unfathomable 
mystery, the heart apprehends the ineffable idea, and 
is thrilled with a responsive love, conscious of having 
found God in Christ — and in him a solution of the 
mysterious yearnings of the soul for the infinite and 
immortal. By faith in him, the heart finds a brother, 
Saviour, friend ; and exultingly exclaims, with Thomas, 
" My Lord and my God !" 

God incarnate in Christ ; it is a mystery sublime and 

* Wilberforce on the Incarnation, p. 27. 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 33 

beautiful ! But once seen by faith, realized to the 
heart in its saving and practical relations, it diffuses 
through the soul "peace like a river;" it transforms 
us with a divine glory. But it is only in an attitude of 
prostrate and devout worship, like that of the magi at 
the feet of Jesus — it is only when the soul is bowed in 
lowliness and faith at the foot of the cross, that the 
sweet mystery and glory of God in Christ is seen and 
felt by the heart in its saving, all-transforming power. 
It was just in this spiritual lowliness and self-abasement 
before Christ, D'Aubigne tells us, he rose from prayer 
in the study of the learned Kleuker of Kiel, and felt 
all his doubts and difficulties removed, and the peace 
of God in his soul ; and ever did he strive to keep his 
soul in that spiritual attitude at the foot of the cross. 
And it was thus, we are informed, that the distinguished 
scholar, Francis Junius, was recovered from absolute 
atheism, by a clear and sudden view of the glory of 
Christ, leading him to exclaim, " Thou, Lord my God, 
didst remember me, and received me, a lost sheep, into 
thy fold. ,, And this, we believe, is substantially the 
experience of every Christian. "Whatever mystery 
may surround the doctrine of " God manifest in the 
flesh" in the apprehensions of the mind, there is none 



34 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

in the heart. God in Christ received into the affections 
by a simple childlike faith, is the beginning of a divine 
light and life in the soul full of peace and joy, trans- 
forming it into the image of Jesus, from glory to glory, 
even as by the spirit of the Lord. 

"I love th' incarnate mystery, 
And there I fix my trust." 

But in addition to this general aspect of the incarna- 
tion, there is something inexpressibly beautiful and 
touching in the fact, that the Son of God appeared as 
a child. "It is a remarkable circumstance," says 
Barnes, "in the scripture account of the incarnation of 
the Son of God, that he did not at once assume the 
human form in its mature and manly proportions : 
that the second Adam did not appear on the stage as 
the first did, already a man in shape and stature, the 
most noble and beautiful of the race; but that he 
appeared as a child, with all the innocent character- 
istics and sympathies of a child.' 

There was nothing unnatural or incongruous in the 
Godhead veiling itself in the form of a child. Some 
men, with their ideas of material vastness and expansion 
associated with their conceptions of God, have felt as if 
there was a kind of compression of the Divine Glory in 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 35 

that Babe of Bethlehem. Bat if we view God as a spirit, 
having no essential affinity with material vastness or 
grandeur, and conceive of his glory as consisting in 
spiritual excellences and perfections, there is no diffi- 
culty in seeing that glory in the immaculate child 
Jesus. "The true Shekinah," says Chrysostom, "is 
Man." But an innocent child is in some respects 
nearer the infinite, nearer Heaven, than a man, for 

' Heaven lies about us in our infancy ." 

And we may therefore say with, perhaps greater 
propriety, that the true Shekinah is a little child, and 
that the most beautiful shrine of Deity was that sin- 
less child. "And. in him dwelt," even then, "all the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily." "And those who 
saw him and believed, felt that Godhead lay in him 
softly and fully, as the image of the sun in a drop of 
dew." 

But whatever of mystery may surround that scene 
in Bethlehem — however humbling to all the pre- 
tensions of human reason in its vain attempts to 
measure the dimensions of that infant cradle — how- 
ever opposed to all our preconceptions of the Messiah 
— the fact has touched the sympathies of mankind, 



36 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

and won the heart of the world, as no other fact ever 

has done, or can do. The simple but sublime fact 

that the Eternal Word was veiled in an infant form, 

and lived as a little child. 

" The happiest, the holiest, 
That ever blessed the earth." 

How has the heart of the world gathered around 
that Divine child! How anxiously has it sought to 
lift the veil which hangs over the early years of Jesus, 
and desired to know " the precise complexion of that 
moral dawn which preceded the pure and perfect efful- 
gence that shone forth on the history of his riper 
years!"* And in the absence of a full history, how 
has fancy taken the detached glimpses of his child- 
hood given in the gospel of Luke, and sought to 
picture the sinless child with an outward form — the 
personification of all that is lovely and beautiful : a 
cherub's face and smile, seraphic purity, and a voice 
whose tones were musical with heavenly sweetness! 
And yet such an ideal of the holy child Jesus would 
fall immeasurably below the reality. For such an 
ideal is, after all, conceived from human standards and 
comparisons of what we know. Whereas David, in 

* Chalmers. 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 37 

his prophetic picture of the Messiah, says, " Thou art 
fairer than the children of men ; grace is poured into 
thy lips." Alexander renders the passage thus: 
" Beautiful, beautiful art thou above the sons of man. 
He is not praised as the fairest and most beautiful of 
men, but as fair or beautiful beyond all human 
standard or comparison. This general ascription of all 
loveliness is followed by the specification of a single 
charm, that of delightful captivating speech — grace or 
beauty of expression."* So that no ideal of human 
conception can reach the transcendent spiritual beauty 
and loveliness of the holy child Jesus. There are 
occasional glimpses of his early years in the gospel 
revealing those moral elements of character which, 
in their combinations and developments, afterwards 
appeared in the man Christ Jesus, who was holy and 
separate from sinners. 

"We have in successive touches of the sacred penman, 
the simple relation of his deference to the doctors in 
the temple, and his personal interest in the questions 
connected with the great subject of religion — his filial 
subjection to Joseph and Mary — and in Luke xi. 40, a 
summary of his infant history. "And the child grew 
* Alexander on Psalms. 



38 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS, 

and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; and the 
grace of God was upon him." 

This passage indicates the purely human development 
of Jesus in body as well as mind. The words, " the 
grace of God was upon him," are not only expressive 
of the divine complacency in Jesus, but indicative of 
the efficient cause of the pure unclouded development 
of the life of the Redeemer. He possessed a sinless 
intellect. There w^as no moral haze to obscure his 
expanding mind. The rays of light had not to struggle 
through the mists of error and sin, that surround the 
mind of a sinful child. He grew in wisdom, for it was 
the aliment of his sinless soul. The idea is clearly 
expressed of a gradual development of his mind. There 
was the dawn, the morning, and the advancing day ; 
but it was a morning without obscuring mists, and a 
day with no overshadowing clouds. This idea is ex- 
tracted and then expanded by Olshausen from the 
declaration, "the grace of God was upon him." In 
his exposition of this passage he says, " The grace is 
nothing but the dyowrq, "love," which manifests itself, 
and which proves itself efficacious. In every moment 
of the life of Jesus, the love of God was reflected in 
him as in a mirror ; he was in every sense a child, in 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 39 

every sense a youth, in every sense a man, and sancti- 
fied thus all the degrees of the development of humanity ; 
but there never appeared in him anything inconsistent 
therewith, which would have been the case had expres- 
sions of a riper or advanced degree of life manifested 
itself during the period of his childhood." 

These several allusions to the early human develop- 
ment of Jesus, and the occasional glimpses of the moral 
features of his childhood, pure and sinless in all its 
manifestations, may give us some approximate idea of 
the "holy child Jesus," as a pure, sinless, beautiful, 
perfect child. 

We cannot omit an allusion to that touching incident 
in the history of the infancy of Jesus, associated with 
his presentation to the Lord in the Temple. That 
Gospel picture of the aged and devout Simeon, folding 
the infant Saviour to his heart, with that sweet, swan- 
like canticle gushing from his soul, " Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation," has cheered the imagination and 
heart of the world. Even Joseph and Mary, after all 
the previous wonders of Bethlehem, marvelled when 
they saw that pious old man holding the child in his 
arms, and heard those words of prophetic ecstacy that 



40 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

glowed from his inspired lips. And no one that has 
ever read the Gospel forgets that scene. It has charmed 
the imagination of childhood, and lulled the aged saint 
to his last sweet sleep in Jesus. Never, says an eloquent 
preacher, was there a finer picture offered to the imagi- 
nation. Old age gazing in raptured reverence on in- 
fancy ; and the saint on the verge of heaven beholding 
in that innocent and helpless Babe, the light and life 
of the world. 

The only event in the Saviour's life mentioned in the 
Gospel history prior to his appearance in public, is one 
of peculiar interest, as unfolding in the child the con- 
sciousness of his divine nature, and foreshadowing his 
divine mission. We last saw the infant Saviour, as an 
unconscious child, in the arms of the ecstatic Simeon ; 
we see him now a holy and beautiful youth in the midst 
of the doctors in the temple, hearing and asking ques- 
tions. "The opinion," says Olshausen, "that Jesus 
taught in the temple, must be dismissed as monstrous ; 
an instructing, demonstrating child, would be a contra- 
diction which the God of order could not possibly have 
placed in the world. The words "listening to," and 
"questioning," of ver. 46, refer clearly enough to his 
receptivity. The Scriptures, and the sublime hopes 



THE IIOLY CHILD JESUS. 41 

which they awaken, must have formed no doubt the 
basis of his questions ; he inquires after himself ; and, 
we may say, that the w T hole struggle and longing dis- 
played by the child Jesus was nothing but a desire for 
the revelation of himself."* 

In his reply to the anxious and interrogating parents, 
we discover an awakening consciousness of his divine 
nature and mission. " How is it that ye sought me ? 
wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ?" 
These words lift the veil of mystery that hung round 
the holy child Jesus, and give us a glimpse of what he 
then was, and what he was destined to be. They are 
words expressive of a dawning consciousness of the 
special relation in which he stood to the Father as the 
Son of God, and a presentiment of his sublime spiritual 
destiny, and a foreshadowing of his future beneficent 
mission. 

Beautiful indeed to the imagination, and lovely to 
the heart, is the aspect of the Saviour as the "holy 
child Jesus." " He was a child — a holy child — a divine 
child — an eternal child. He seems still to sit among 
the doctors, with Zoroaster, and Moses, and Confucius, 
and Socrates, and Plato, ranged around him, both hear- 

* Olshausen's Com. on Luke. 
4* 



42 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

ing them and asking them questions, while they, like 
the sheaves of Joseph's brethren, are compelled to bow 
down before the noble youth."* 

But the fact that the Son of God came and lived as a 
child, is something more than an object of mere poeti- 
cal beauty or sentimental influence. It has a doctrinal 
aspect of great practical and consolatory interest. Jesus 
was in every sense a child, that he might be a perfect 
Saviour of children, as well as of believing adults. 
"Wherefore," says the apostle, "in all things it be- 
hooved him to be made like unto his brethren." May 
we not comprehend in this essential assimilation to 
our humanity, the assumption of human nature in its 
lowliest form, that thus " Jesus passing through all the 
stages of human life, from infancy to manhood, might 
sanctify them all." The idea is as true and Biblical as 
it is beautiful and consoling. It was thus Christ became 
a merciful and perfect High Priest — possessing a sym- 
pathy with every stage of human development, and 
every phase of human life ; making him a perfect Sa- 
viour of little children, as well as of those of mature 
years ; touched with a feeling of the infirmities of these 
little ones, in all their mental and emotional trials — 
* Gilfillan, Bards of the Bible. 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 43 

trials so subtile and hidden as to elude the eye even of 
a mother's love ; sympathizing with those incipient 
evolutions of thought and feeling long before they can 
find expression in language, or awaken a responsive 
sympathy even in a mother's heart. 

There is something intensely interesting in this idea 
of the Saviour, as once a little child, and retaining ever 
after a perfect consciousness of his human childhood, 
and a consequent sympathy with little ones, such as no 
other being can feel, not even a mother in all her deep 
and yearning affection. It was this that gave such a 
touch of gentleness and simplicity to his whole charac- 
ter ; for even after he entered upon the great work of 
his manhood, the public teachings and redemptive 
works of his Divine mission, he seemed still to possess 
the moral beauty of a child. " His sermons, possessing 
no logical sequence and coherence, seem like the utter- 
ances of a divine infant." "When he spake as man 
never spake — when he performed his miracles of mercy 
— when he gave utterance to truths and sentiments such 
as had never fallen from human lips, " he still retained 
all the simplicity of character which he had when a 
child, and evinced in his manner all that would meet 
the sympathies of a child, and go at once to his heart.' ' 



44 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

This also gave a peculiarity to his teachings, so clear 
and simple, so full of explanatory references to the 
beauties of nature, to fields of waving grain, and 
flowers, and birds, and fountains ; illustrating the pro- 
foundest truths by simple and touching parables. All 
this peculiarity in the Saviour's method of instruction, 
evinced his own childlike simplicity of character, and 
made both himself and his teaching so attractive to the 
minds and hearts of children. 

And this same feature will account in part for the 
interest he felt in the little ones ; how he loved to look 
upon these beautiful emblems of innocence and purity, 
and fold them in his arms and bless them ! 

And now enthroned in Glory, he retains all the ten- 
der sympathy with childhood which characterized his 
earthly ministry. There is still the fresh and living 
consciousness of his own human infancy and childhood. 
In view of the mysterious union of the divine and 
human in Christ, that infantile state must be in a beau- 
tiful sense a perpetual state ; so that he may be justly 
6tyled a divine child — an eternal child. He was thus 
viewed by the inspired apostles, as is manifest from 
Acts iv. 27-29. He is worshipped upon his throne of 
glory by Peter and John, as the Holy Child Jesus. How 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 45 

intensely interesting is this aspect of the Saviour in his 
relations to childhood ! Because even childhood is 
human, it must have sorrow ; because it is human, it 
cannot have unmingled bliss. Children have their little 
mental and emotional struggles, and cares, and sorrows, 
which sometimes leave a transient shade of sadness on 
their brow, but which they cannot unfold even to a 
mother's bosom. How inexpressibly precious is the 
thought that Jesus is touched with a feeling of their 
little infirmities, w^hich they have no language to ex- 
press ; that there is One who can catch the meaning 
of that shade of sadness on its sunny face, and inter- 
pret the meaning of its sighs, and who is touched with 
a quick, responsive sympathy, for he was once a little 
child, and is still the Holy Child Jesus. 

There is something in this which has wonderfully 
affected the sympathies of mankind; it has endeared 
the Saviour to the minds of children, and invested his 
character with a transcendant beauty and loveliness to 
the pious of all ages. By a natural association in our 
minds, the "holy child Jesus'' has left a halo of spi- 
ritual beauty and sanctity around the age of childhood. 
There seem yet to linger on the face and brow of little 
children the benedictive smile and hallowing touch of 



46 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

Jesus, when he took such in his arms, and put his 
hands on them, and blessed them. 

We leave with reluctance a theme upon which we 
should love still to linger ; but we hope to renew this 
contemplation again, if not on earth, when we our- 
selves are fully transformed into the spiritual image of 
a little child, and shall bow down to worship the Holy 
Child Jesus in Heaven. 

The transition from the subject of our thoughts in 
this chapter to the Little Children of the New Testa- 
ment, is natural and pleasant ; a theme next in loveli- 
ness to the one we leave. For who has not felt the 

BEAUTY OF CHILDHOOD? 

There is an indefinable charm to our hearts in a little 
child, in its pure, unsullied freshness, as if just coming 
from the hands of God. It is so in part, perhaps, from 
an unconscious association in our minds with the divine 
child, and partly from the pleasing recollections of our 
own childhood, so endeared to memory, and so attrac- 
tive to the imagination. 

There is something in a true unperverted childhood 
that is sweet and lovely. Wordsworth, in his "Inti- 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 47 

nations of Immortality from Recollections of Early 
Childhood," says 

"Heaven lies about us in our infancy I" 

This is true as well as beautiful. A child seems embo- 
somed in the Infinite, and among its first ideas is that 
of the boundless. « We awaken into life with a vague 
sense of its grandeur; we fancy that we can reach the 
sky which rests upon the mountain, but we soon find 
by experience in what a big world we are living. The 
stars seem near, and we think that we could grasp 
them, but soon we begin to suspect the vastness of the 
lighted dome, and then there dawn upon our faculties 
glimpses of the measureless universe of God." It is a 
time of beautiful illusions and fancies, of fresh sym- 
pathy with nature in its ever-varying beauty; and it is 
because they renew within us a consciousness of our 
own childhood, and with that consciousness our early 
love of nature, that they appear so lovely to our eyes. 

" There was a time, when meadow, grove and stream, 
The earth and every common sight, 
To me did seem 
Apparelled in celestial light, 
The glory and the freshness of a dream. 



48 THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 

It is not now, as it hath been of yore ; 
Turn wheresoe'er I may, 
By night or day, 
The things which I hare seen I now can see no more." 

How true is this in our experience ! as our childhood 
departs, the charm which once invested all things to 
our youthful fancy, fades into the light of common day. 
We feel 

" That there hath passed away a glory from the earth." 

And I need scarcely say that there is a feeling of sad- 
ness in this experience ; we seem to be removed farther 
from the heaven that surrounded our early years. There 
is something exceedingly simple and touching in those 
lines of Hood, in which this feeling of contrast is ex- 
pressed : — 

"I remember, I remember 

The fir-trees dark and high, 
I used to think their tiny tops 

Were close against the sky; 
It was a childish ignorance, 

But now 'tis little joy, 
To know I'm farther off from heaven 

Than when I was a boy." 

Little children throw around us the simplicity and 
beauty of our own youth, and thus give a kind of 



THE HOLY CHILD JESUS. 49 

mental permanence to our own childhood, and this 
makes them to us a source of perpetual pleasure ; and 
we realize the sentiments of Wordsworth in the Ode 
from which we have just quoted : — 

"0 joy! that in our embers 
Is something that doth live, 
That nature yet remembers 
What was so fugitive ! 
The thought of our past years in me doth breed 
Perpetual benediction ! " 

Not for the delight and liberty, and simple creed of 
childhood; not for these only, says the Poet, did he 
raise his grateful song of praise — 

•"But for those first affections, 

Those shadowy recollections, 
Which be they what they may, 
Are yet the fountain-light of all our day, 
Are yet a master-light of all our seeing ; 

Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make 
Our noisy years seem moments in the being 
Of the eternal silence ; truths that wake, 

To perish never." 

But it is time we should pass to the pleasing and 
edifying pictures of the Little Children of the New 
Testament. 
5 



Chapter $mnb. 



THE LITTLE CHILDREN BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 



Blessed Jesus ever loved to trace 
The innocent brightness of an infant's face; 

He raised them in His holy arms, 
He blessed them from the world and all its harms : 

Heirs though they were of sin and shame, 
He blessed them in His own and in His Father's name. — Keble. 



" Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is the kingdom of God." — Jesus. 



Beautiful is this attitude of the Redeemer in his 
relations to children. Beautiful did it seem to Isaiah, 
as it passed before him in prophetic vision, eliciting 
that touching representation of the Good Shepherd 
imprinted on every pious heart : " He shall gather the 
lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom. " 

There is scarcely to be found in sacred history a more 

(50) 



THE LITTLE CHILDREN, ETC. 51 

lovely and significant emblem of Christianity than that 
presented in this attractive scene. 

How has this moral picture of the Gospel, with the 
winning posture of the Eedeemer inviting the approach 
of little children, lived in Christian memory as a 
"thing of beauty, and a joy forever !" And that 
utterance of affectionate welcome, "Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me," how has it lingered in the 
heart of parental love, like a sound of music from 
Heaven ; and how, through successive generations, has 
it fallen on the opening heart and consciousness of 
childhood like the gentle dew upon the opening 
flowers of Spring ! 

There are some aspects in Nature which, once seen, 
abide in the soul forever. " No one ever forgets," says 
Hamilton, "an Alpine sunset, or a single star shining 
sweetly in a cloudy sky at night/ ' And no one, with 
a susceptibility to what is beautiful in the moral and 
social aspects of life, can ever forget this Gospel picture. 
The Saviour, with an aspect so benignant, with arms 
opened to receive the little children and clasp them to 
his bosom with the exclamation " of such is the king- 
dom of Heaven," is a picture of moral beauty which, 
when received into the heart, abides there forever. 



52 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

When we look at a painting of great artistic excel- 
lence and moral beauty — such as the Madonna of 
Raphael, or Allston's Jeremiah, or The Descent from 
the Cross, by Guerin, there is at the first glance a feel- 
ing of the beautiful — a delicate flush of pleasure over 
the soul; but as we gaze, new thoughts and sugges- 
tions are evolved. "We seem to catch that rapt expres- 
sion of greatful joy in the countenance of Mary; we 
seem to understand the meaning of that serene and 
thoughtful eye, as visions float before her of wonders 
and glories to be unveiled in the future. And a writer, 
describing the impression made upon his mind by The 
Descent from the Cross, by Guerin, in the Baltimore 
Cathedral, says : " It is so composed, so coloured, so 
filled with triumphant expression, that you feel as you 
gaze, that ' death is swallowed up in victory.' " 

It is thus with this Gospel picture ; the first glimpse 
of it sends a freshening glow of pleasure through the 
soul, as when gazing at some rural landscape in spring- 
time, and we exclaim, " It is beautiful ! " 

But it is something more. As we protract our 
view of this touching scene, we experience something 
more than mere transient emotions of the beautiful. 
It is suggestive of truths of great practical interest 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 53 

and importance. So that we may appropriately 
characterize this scene with truths placed in such 
beautiful relations as "apples of gold in pictures of 
silver.' ' 

This scene to a thoughtful mind is full of suggestions 
of great practical interest. The conduct of the disciples 
in their effort to intercept the approach of children to 
Christ, naturally suggests the inquiry whether we have 
never been guilty of similar interference, and thereby 
incurred the reprehension of Christ. "Whilst the aspect 
and conduct of the Saviour in that shade of displeasure 
on his calm brow, as he repulsed the offensive 
interference, and the benignity with which he uttered 
that affectionate welcome of little children to his arms, 
are suggestive of encouraging thoughts; thoughts 
which, acting in the way of motives, may happily co- 
operate with the promptings of natural affection in 
leading parents to bring their children to the Saviour 
for his blessing. 

The whole scope of its spiritual import will be evolved 
by a consecutive view of those who brought children 
to Christ, and those who interfered with their being 
brought ; and the whole deportment of the Saviour to- 
wards these distinctive parties, together with his words 
5 * 



54 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

of welcome and comforting assurance, that " of such is 
the kingdom of God." 

I. Of those who are here represented as bringing 
young children to Christ, we know nothing beyond the 
simple fact in the narrative. The most natural infer- 
ence is, that they were the parents of the children ; but 
whether they understood the full meaning of their own 
act, we do not know ; whether it was the mere instinct 
of natural affection, prompting them to bring their 
children with some undefined hope of securing a bless- 
ing ; or whether, having caught the spreading rumors 
of the Redeemer's fame, and of his gentle condescen- 
sion to little children, taking them in his arms and 
blessing them, and were thus moved to bring their chil- 
dren for his benediction, we are unable to determine, 
in the absence of any detailed account in the Gospel 
narrative. But whatever may have been the feelings 
or motives prompting them in this procedure, the act 
itself received the most decisive sanction of the Re- 
deemer, and stands immortalized in Gospel history as a 
sacred symbol of all that is beautiful in parental love, 
conducting their tender offspring to the Saviour of the 
world. It is thus preserved in sacred history as both 
an example and an encouragement to parents to bring 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 55 

their children to Christ, with the assurance that their 
offering will meet with a like reception, and secure a 
similar blessing, for " He is the same yesterday, to-day, 
and forever." 

II. The conduct of the disciples who " rebuked those 
that brought young children/ ' is deserving of special 
notice. 

Their conduct in the view of Christ was equivalent 
to a forbidding of little children to come to him. In 
the absence of scriptural data, w^e are incompetent to 
determine the precise form of this interference. Per- 
haps it was a look that frowned the little ones back, or 
a significant gesture of the hand, or a word of rebuke, 
or some compulsory act intercepting their progress, we 
know not. But whatever the specific form of their 
conduct, it was substantially a forbidding of little chil- 
dren to come to the Saviour, as is manifest from the 
consequent reprehension of the disciples by Christ, and 
his invitation, Suffer them to come, and forbid them 
not. 

It may serve to quicken our interest in this fact to 
observe, that the persons censured as interdicting the 
access of little children to Christ, were his own disci- 
ples. If it had proceeded from the self-righteous Scribes 



56 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

or Pharisees, or any of the unbelieving Jews who dis- 
carded the Messiahship of Jesus, there would be little 
to awaken our surprise, or to justify any further inquiry 
into the reason of their conduct ; for it would be suffi- 
ciently obvious without such inquiry. But that his 
disciples, through some perversion of judgment, some 
misconception of his kingdom, or some sudden, erratic 
impulse of passion, should interpose, either directly or 
indirectly, in keeping young children from Christ, ex- 
cites our w r onder. 

The fact awakens our attention, and excites inquiry 
into the probable reason or feelings that influenced 
them in this unexpected procedure. The inquiry is not 
only natural but important, in order that we may guard 
against anything in our sentiments and deportment that 
might admit of a similar construction, and be produc- 
tive of results practically repelling the approach of 
little children to the Saviour. 

The usual explanation of their conduct is that which 
refers it to a feeling of kindness for their Lord. Jesus 
"went about doing good," and was often weary and 
worn with the incessant demands upon his loving heart 
and toiling hands; and the disciples, from a natural 
sympathy, wished to spare him this addition to his 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 57 

labours. They perhaps reasoned that if the practice 
of bringing little children to Christ, with the vague 
notion of receiving some blessing from him, should be- 
come universal, there would be no end to his toils and 
interruptions; and, w T ith a view of arresting at once 
such a tendency, they impulsively interposed to prevent 
such a result. 

Although this may be admitted as the proximate 
reason, there was, we conceive, something back of this ; 
some ulterior feeling, in which we must expect to find 
the real cause of their conduct. They had but imper- 
fect conceptions of Christ's spiritual kingdom, and the 
relations of children to that kingdom. Their ideas of 
that kingdom led them to infer that there was little or 
no use in this formal presentation of children to Christ 
for his blessing ; and therefore it was a useless imposi- 
tion upon his time and labors. It seems from the 
several accounts in the Gospel, that these children were 
not diseased, or blind, or deaf; for, in that event, we 
could scarcely conceive it possible that the disciples 
should present such an interference. Had these chil- 
dren been blind, or sick, or deaf, the disciples could 
not have objected to their presentation to Jesus, who 
opened the eyes of the blind with a touch, and healed 



58 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

the sick with a word. It would have been so obviously 
within the appropriate sphere of his mission, that the 
disciples, so far from rebuking the parents, would have 
co-operated with them in bringing their children to the 
Great Physician. But what use could there be in 
bringing these sound and healthy children to the Sa- 
viour to receive his miraculous touch ? 

This view, we conceive, presents a satisfactory solu- 
tion of this singular conduct of the disciples. They 
regarded these children as too young to receive any 
spiritual blessing ; and, as they were not afflicted with 
any physical malady, this act of bringing them to the 
Saviour was, in their view, a mere idle form and super- 
stitious ceremony. "With these views of the case, they 
were prompted from feelings of kindness to their Lord 
to prevent this additional imposition of cares upon a 
life that was already burdened with sorrow and wea- 
ried with toil. 

That the disciples erred, both in their views and con- 
duct, in this instance, is evident from the Saviour's 
words and manner. 

Assuming the explanation of the disciples' conduct 
just given, and it seems the only one that is wholly 
satisfactory, it is easy to see how we, though occupying 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 59 

a somewhat different religious stand-point, may incur 
the Saviour's displeasure, by sentiments and deport- 
ment of like tendency and effect, though differing 
from theirs in form and expression. 

If they were influenced in this interference by the 
impression that the children were too young to receive 
any spiritual blessing, and the act of the parents in 
bringing them, therefore an unwarranted obtrusion 
upon the time of their Lord ; how easily may we, from 
mistaken views of early religious education, practically 
prevent little children from going to Christ. 

If under the idea that the child is too young to re- 
ceive religious instructions and impressions, we neglect 
the earliest religious consciousness of the child, and 
defer its moral culture until it is older and more sus- 
ceptible, as we imagine, of religious truth, are we not 
virtually keeping that child from the Saviour ? and that 
too under a delusion similar to that which influenced 
the conduct of the disciples. 

It is of course a very delicate point to determine the 
precise time for the initial process of instruction and 
discipline, as it will vary in different children. But 
this position may be safely assumed, that as soon as 
there are indications of intelligent consciousness in the 



60 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

child, and the exhibitions of evil tempers and passions, 
there should begin some mode of instruction intelligible 
to childhood ; some check and control that will indi- 
cate to the young heart the right and the wrong exer- 
cise of its opening powers and affections. That this 
process of discipline may begin at a very early age, 
will appear obvious to those who notice how soon the 
instinctive power of affection is capable of being de- 
veloped into conscious love under the sunny influence 
of a mother's smile. " The child's affection gets de- 
veloped on the smallest scale at first. The mother's 
love tempts forth the son's ; he loves the bosom that 
feeds him, the lips that caress, the person that loves. 
Soon the circle widens, and includes brothers and 
sisters, and familiar friends; then gradually enlarges 
more and more, the affections strengthening as their 
empire spreads." And just as the child is thus early 
taught to love, it may b'e simultaneously made the 
subject of the gentle and chastening discipline of love. 
And although this early discipline may not in itself be 
styled bringing the child to Christ, it is unquestionably 
a preparative to that end. "Whatever tends in early 
life to check evil tempers, and subdue unholy passions, 
and exercise a proper control over the expanding 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 61 

powers, and gives a right development to the budding 
affections, will subsequently facilitate the progress of 
the soul to him who is the truth and the life. 

So that if we neglect this early discipline and con- 
trol — if, either through a criminal indifference, or from 
the impression that the child is too young to be the 
subject of instruction and discipline, we omit the deli- 
cate nurture of the expanding mind and affections, it 
will be in effect, though not consciously, withholding 
the child from Christ. 

Another way in which it is possible to commit the 
practical error of the disciples, and like them, incur the 
reprehension of Jesus, is the adoption of some other 
books in the place of the Bible, for the instruction of 
childhood. There seems to be a prevalent idea that 
the Bible is not exactly the book for a little child. It 
must have something simpler; books more specially 
adapted to its limited range of thought; "books of 
which the authors are wiser than inspired prophets and 
apostles, as knowing better how to make great truths 
acceptable and intelligible. They cannot trust God to 
bless his own word, but imagine that word unsuited to 
the capacities of children ; and they seek for writers to 
dilute and simplify the word, ridding it of mysteries, 



62 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

and adapting it to juvenile understandings. This is 
virtually withholding the children from Christ ; it is 
requiring, with the disciples, that they grow older, and 
better able to understand the mission of the Saviour, 
before they come to him for his blessing.' ' 

This was nctf; the idea of Eunice, in the education of 
her little son Timothy. She began his education with 
the Holy Scriptures — " not simplified versions or story- 
illustrations of the Bible, with the hard things left out, 
and the dark things made plain, but the Holy Scrip- 
tures." She believed that He who made the Bible, 
made the mind of her little child, and knew infinitely 
better how to adapt the one to the other than all the 
genius and tact of modern book-makers. And the 
practical result of her course is a demonstration of its 
wisdom. The inspired apostle says to Timothy, " from 
a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which 
are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus." In which he not only 
gives his sanction to the method of instruction adopted 
by Timothy's mother, but asserts its happy tendency 
in the child by the practical result in the man. 

Let us imitate this example of Eunice. Let us not 
reckon the child too young to be brought at once in 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 63 

contact with the sublime yet simple truths of the 
Bible, and through them to the great Teacher. Let us 
trust God as best competent to furnish truth for the 
infant mind. He who has displayed such wisdom in 
the various and wonderful adaptations of Nature, 
cannot fail here. He who gives to the thirsty beetle its 
sparkling dewdrop, can give to the infant mind its 
needed truth and spiritual aliment. He who has so 
studiously cared for the one, will not overlook the 
other. It would be strange indeed, if the Father of 
Spirits could not teach the infant spirit in its incipient 
germinations, just as easily and beautifully as he 
tempers the rough wind to a zephyr to breathe upon the 
life of a violet ; or if He could not cause his truth to 
descend upon the opening mind of childhood in as 
gentle distillations as the dews of morning upon the 
unfolding flowers of Spring. 

Now we find in the Bible just this adaptation 
which analogical reasoning would lead us to expect. 
Whilst minds of the finest mould and most excursive 
thought find truths to instruct and interest, and heights 
which they cannot scale, and depths they are unable to 
fathom, leaving them ever to wonder and adore; there 
is yet with all this a simplicity that interests the minds 



64 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

of children. It abounds in touching incidents and 
poetry, beautiful narratives, and biography and para- 
bles, such as cannot fail to be both attractive and 
instructive to the mind of a child. The parable of the 
Prodigal Son is so simple and touching in its structure 
and incident, as to seem especially intended to instruct 
and affect little children. This peculiarity of the 
Scriptures has struck all thoughtful minds. Barnes, 
speaking of this feature of adaptation in the Bible to 
youthful minds, says: "It is for reasons such as these 
that we suppose that the Christian system, with all that 
is great and profound in it, has continued to inweave 
into itself an arrangement contemplating the mind of 
a child." 

It is true there are mysteries in the Bible, and the 
parent will often be perplexed by the curious and pro- 
found questionings of childhood. For children will 
propose difficulties suggested to their minds, which no 
theologist can answer. But let not such parts of the 
Bible be avoided and passed over because they do not 
admit of explanation. The Psalmist says, "Thy 
righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judg- 
ments are a great deep." And in the study of the 
Bible we will come to these mountains and this ocean. 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 65 

The idea in the mind of David, in the use of these 
natural emblems, was that of vastness and immensity 
in the perfections and judgments of the Almighty. 
And the true course in the instruction of a child is not 
to avoid them, but come right up to them; not to 
scale the one or measure the other, but to look up the 
majestic heights and out upon the vast deep, to wonder 
and adore. Say to the child at once that this is a 
mystery. Meet its questionings with the frank confes- 
sions of ignorance. For in most cases in the Bible, 
what is a mystery to a child is a mystery also to a man. 
The origin of Sin, the Incarnation, the Trinity, &c, are 
almost as much beyond the grasp of a Newton or 
Edwards, as the feeble thought of a child. 

We should, therefore, begin at once with the Bible ; 
and when we meet with what is mysterious, tell the 
child we are unable to explain it now, and that we 
receive it simply as a fact of God's word which tran- 
scends our present limited sphere of thought, and that 
we expect to understand more about it hereafter. This 
confession of ignorance to the child asking for reasons 
upon subjects which lie beyond the range of reason — 
this implicit submission of reason to revelation, will 

have a happy effect upon the subsequent experience of 
6* 



66 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

the child when it is called to grapple with the great 
truths of Revelation. " If, after the fashion of many 
juvenile books, you strive to make intelligible what 
ought to be left mysterious, you do but nourish in the 
child the notion that he is competent to understand all 
truth, and prepare him for skepticism, if he finds him- 
self in riper years called upon to submit his reason to 
his faith. Whereas, if you begin at once what he must 
come to at last, the reception of truth, because God 
hath said it, though man cannot explain it, you do the 
best to cherish in him a reverence for the majesty of 
Scripture — to train him up in those habits of mental 
submission ; the want of which so frequently makes 
the skeptic — the presence of which is indispensable to 
the believer.' ' 

Whilst, therefore, we are not to discard the subsi- 
diary helps of the many excellent juvenile works, the 
Bible must be the great text-book in the religious 
education of the child. We must begin, progress, and 
end with the Bible. 

Now in both of the ways mentioned we may virtually 
imitate the example of the disciples, by omitting the 
earliest practicable period for beginning the religious 
education of the child, and the substitution of other 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 67 

books in the place of the Bible, under the mistaken 
idea that it is too young for either the one or the other. 

In regard to the former, it must be obvious that, as 
the child is born in sin, and its first tendencies will be 
to evil, its religious education should begin with the 
first gleams of intelligent consciousness. 

"We are so accustomed to the poetical representations 
of the beauty and innocence of childhood, that we 
almost forget the latent evil that lies slumbering 
beneath the fair and winning exterior. We forget 
that the germs of all that is revolting in the monster 
of iniquity may lie folded behind faces of almost 
cherubic beauty. And although in early infancy there 
may be little that is symptomatic of that moral virus 
which taints our humanity, still we know that it is in 
the child — that it is yet in embryo, but will manifest 
itself in a sinful development with the expansion of its 
mind and moral nature. The very pirate that crimsons 
the ocean wave with the blood of his defenceless 
victim in some lonely sea, was once a little child, the 
object of parental love and domestic endearment. The 
condemned criminal doomed to death, was once an 
infant, resting its head upon a mother's bosom, smiling 
as the very incarnation of beauty. 



68 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

With this assumption of the child's inherent depravity, 
it is obvious that its religious education should begin 
at the earliest possible period; and that this process 
of education should be begun and prosecuted under 
the divine teachings of the Bible. This Divine book 
should not be displaced by the substitution of other 
books professing to simplify and render attractive the 
truths of Scripture, as though the Bible could not be 
made intelligible and interesting to children. We 
should feel assured that there is no posture ever for a 
child more appropriate than that of Mary at the feet 
of Jesus, hearing the words of the Master himself. 
"His words, and those which his spirit inspired, are 
far more likely to reach and work upon the heart of a 
child — his words in their own majesty, ay, and 
mystery — than when pared down, and paraphrased, and 
simplified by processes of modern book-making." 

Now if we neglect the earliest season for beginning 
the process of religious instruction and discipline, or if 
we discard the Bible and resort to other sources of 
instruction, under the idea that the child is too young 
to be brought directly to Christ, we virtually repeat the 
very conduct of the disciples, who rebuked those that 
brought children to the Saviour, and like them cannot 
fail to incur the displeasure of our Lord. 






BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 69 

III. The manner in which the Saviour rebuked the 
interference of the disciples, serves to illustrate more 
fully the points under consideration. 

The conduct of the disciples was exceedingly offensive 
to Jesus. " He was much displeased." The original is 
expressive of great indignation. No word could 
indicate more strongly the deep abhorrence of the 
Saviour to such interference with those who were con- 
ducting the little children to him. It serves to present 
this subject in a very solemn light, when we consider 
"that in a life of constant encounter with evil, of 
opposition from enemies, of desertion by friends, our 
Lord should have been only once known to be much 
displeased, and that once in the scene before us. It 
presents this subject in the most solemn and startling 
light; that in all the life of the meek and lowly 
Redeemer, we never find him much displeased but 
once ; and that one outburst of unmixed indignation 
and displeasure w T as when they would prevent those 
who brought little children to him." 

The fact itself is sufficiently startling to arrest the 
serious and prayerful attention of every parent. 

The language of the Saviour, you perceive, refers not 
so much to the positive duty of bringing the little chil- 



70 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

dren to him, as to the avoidance of what might prove 
an obstruction in their way, and the removal of every 
impediment over which their little feet might stumble. 
The expression "suffer" them to come, involves the 
idea that they would go to the Saviour if they were not 
hindered ; and it is easy to see how we may uncon- 
sciously prevent little children in their first attractions 
to Christ. How early may a child feel its heart gravi- 
tating to Him who is the Light and Life of the world ! 
Drawn perhaps by the story of his life, so simple and 
beautiful, or the touching scenes of the garden and the 
cross, that have often won the sympathy of childhood ! 
How possible for a little child, made familiar with the 
Gospel story, under the influence of the Divine Spirit, 
to feel sweetly attracted to the Saviour! And how 
easily may such a tendency be counteracted by coldness 
and indifference, by a neglect to foster the first germs 
of religious thought and feeling ! Children are remark- 
ably quick in their perception of character, and if they 
see a bad example in their parents, whom they are 
naturally disposed to regard as models of all excellen- 
cies, and in whom they so affectionately confide, thej^ 
are embarrassed and discouraged ; all their notions of 
religion are confused, and consequently inoperative. 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 71 

If they are surrounded with an atmosphere of worldli- 
ness and irreligion, with no gentle words of direction 
and encouragement and prayer, how inevitably will 
such a state of things extinguish the first dawnings of 
divine light in the soul, and chill the first pulsations of 
spiritual love in the heart ! 

If by our example or our neglect, or in any way, we 
interfere with the first attraction of the young heart to 
the Saviour, or if by the omission of such aids and 
positive influences as it needs in that important crisis, 
we do not encourage and facilitate its progress to Christ, 
we virtually repeat the very conduct of the disciples in 
this scene ; we may be justly charged with not suffering 
it to go. And what parental heart does not instinctively 
shrink from the very thought of keeping a little child 
from the Saviour ? 

The other form of expression, "Forbid them not," 
may indicate a more direct and positive influence. If, 
instead of fostering and encouraging the early religious 
impressions and tendencies of childhood, there is adopt- 
ed a course of education and life for the child that 
is hostile to religion, that tends to divert the mind 
from serious things, and check the first outgushing 
of the young heart after Christ, this would be practi- 



72 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

cally forbidding the children to go to the inviting Sa- 
viour. 

Sometimes the whole spirit and economy of the do- 
mestic life, the very atmosphere of home, is such as 
effectually to exclude all thoughts of Christ, and all 
sense of the paramount claims of religion. The amuse- 
ments, the plans, the conversation, are all worldly. The 
child detects in the parents a greater concern for its 
smartness or graceful accomplishments, than for any 
manifestations of piety. The impression made upon 
its mind is, that religion is not the one thing needful ; 
that there are other things in the estimation of the 
parents that are of prior and more imperative claims 
than going to Christ : and the practical tendency is a 
forbidding it to go ; for in effect it is essentially the 
same, " whether the child be told not to come to Christ 
at all, or whether he be told to go to some one else 
first." 

It is a serious charge to prefer against even Christian 
parents, that they will not " suffer little children"-^that 
they "forbid them" — to go to the Saviour; and yet it 
may be as true as it is sad and affecting. 

When we consider the many hindrances that are put 
in the way of children — the many obstructions that are 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 73 

not removed from their path — when we see in many a 
professedly Christian home the predominance of a 
worldly spirit and worldly associations, and the neglect 
of direct efforts for the salvation of the little children — 
it is by no means an unwarranted or uncharitable in- 
ference, "that many who imagine they are bringing 
their children to Christ may not be suffering them to 
go ; and some who are ostensibly urging them to go, 
may be all the while forbidding them." 

Let me plead for the "little ones" that would go to 
Christ if they were not hindered ; if they were encou- 
raged and assisted. And with whom shall we urge our 
plea, if not with Christian parents? Think of the 
sacred and responsible relation you sustain to your 
children ; that they have been entrusted ta you, with 
the divine charge, " Take this child away and nurse it 
for me ;" think how confidingly they look to you for 
direction and safety, and how certainly it is your office 
to give to their expanding minds and budding affec- 
tions a Christ-ward and heaven-ward direction. Look 
upon them, in all their confiding simplicity and love, 
and betray not their innocent trust. 

See on the one hand the blessed Saviour, in the 
lovely and attractive attitude of this scene, with open 
7 



74 THE LITTLE CHILDREN 

arms, and the affectionate welcome, saying, " Suffer the 
little children to come unto me and forbid them not;" 
and on the other your little ones, with hearts gently drawn 
and ready to rush to the open arms of the Redeemer: and 
can you forbid them ? Can you hinder them ? No ; 
every instinct of natural affection — every sense of reli- 
ligious obligation — prompts the emphatic response, 
Never ! And every parental heart with an instinctive 
repulsion of the thought, echoes, Never, no never ! 

Then do not practically what in thought you repu- 
diate with such unmingled abhorrence. Do not, by an 
irreligious example, or by your neglect of appropriate 
and timely instruction, or by restraining prayer before 
God, prevent the little ones from going to Christ. By 
all the love you bear them — by all your love for the 
Saviour — by all that is stirring in the spiritual destiny 
of your children — and by all that is fearful in the re- 
tributions of Eternity — suffer them to go and forbid 
them not. For, " whosoever shall offend one of these 
little ones which believe in me, it were better that a 
millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were 
drowned in the midst of the sea." * 

* The mention of faith in the little ones shows, that the childlike 
believer is primarily intended. But the inference is inevitable that 



BROUGHT TO THE SAVIOUR. 75 

How solemn is the appeal of this subject to irreligious 
parents ! If you live in the neglect of religion, with 
no obvious concern for the soul, with no public pro- 
fession of Christ as your Lord and Saviour, what can 
you expect from your children ? You would not per- 
haps by any formal act interdict religion to your loved 
ones ; you may even express a wish for their piety ; but 
how can a child feel the importance of piety with the 
influence of an irreligious father and a prayerless mo- 
ther before it ? Are you not practically keeping your 
children from Christ ? virtually forbidding them to go ? 
Perhaps that young heart felt the gentle drawings of a 
Saviour's love, and under the touches of the Divine 
Spirit was ready to go to Jesus ; but that first tendency 
was checked ; that first throbbing of the heart chilled, 
and the youthful spirit repulsed ; and that by a father 
or a mother, who would not suffer it to go to Jesus. 
! rather bare your bosom to the lightnings of heaven, 

the regard of the Saviour for the little children, to whom he com- 
pares the humble believer, cannot be less than for the believer him- 
self. And, for obvious reasons, the giving offence to a little child, 
causing it to stumble, must be an act of greater turpitude than a 
similar offence committed against an adult believer. So that the 
passage, in all its solemn import, is applicable to those who literally 
offend one of these little ones. 



76 THE LITTLE CHILDREN, ETC. 

than stand in the way of a little child, and frown it 
back from the inviting arms of the Saviour ! 

I know that, loving your children as you do, you re- 
coil from such an interference. You would not, for the 
world, wilfully imperil the salvation of your child. 
But, in your own practical neglect of religion, you are, 
however unconsciously, keeping that child from Christ. 
Look round upon your Christless and prayerless home, 
and the little ones that cluster around you so lovingly 
and confidingly, and can you betray their innocent trust 
and affection ? 0, if no other plea can prevail — if no 
other "argument can draw youj;o God," look into the 
face of your little ones, " and let these dear living argu- 
ments come into your soul and prevail there.' ' 






Cjraptn Cfrtrfc. 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 



"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he 
did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son 
of David, they were sore displeased." — Matthew. 



"Then waken into sound divine 
The very pavement of thy shrine, 
Till we, like Heaven's star-sprinkled floor, 
Faintly give back what we adore. 
Child-like though the voices be, 
And untunable the parts, 
Thou wilt own the minstrelsy, 
If it flow from child-like hearts/* — Keble. 



This chant of youthful voices in the temple was a 
beautiful tribute from children to their Infinite Friend. 
It was meet that children, so richly blessed in the 
Saviour's mission, should bear a part in his triumph, 
and help to swell the praises of Zion's King. And 
7 * (77) 



78 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

grateful must it have been to the Man of sorrows to be 
thus cheered by the sweet songs of childhood, in the 
near prospect of Gethsemane and the Cross. 

The hosanna of the children in the Temple is a 
touching and significant prelude to the sublime and 
tragical death-scene of Calvary. But it is not simply as 
an affecting incident in the history of the Saviour that 
this temple scene claims our attention, but as suggestive 
of important reflections upon the early religious 
instruction of children. 

"We are not informed in the narrative how these 
children happened to be in the temple at this particular 
time ; w T hether they had been attracted by the multi- 
tude and the unusual circumstances of the occasion, or 
conducted thither by their pious parents. Nor are 
we informed of the feelings which prompted their 
" Hosanna to the Son of David ;" whether it was from 
a sympathetic enthusiasm inspired by the shouts of the 
multitude, or a supernatural impulse imparted to them 
at the moment, or, what is perhaps the most reasonable 
conjecture, that it proceeded from both of these 
sources, combined with some idea of the Messiah 
which they had derived from their parents. 

But whatever may have been the immediate occasion 






THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 79 

of this acclamation from the children, it is obvious that 
their hosanna was not a childish imitation of the 
multitude — a mere echo of the shout in the streets. 
If it had been merely such a senseless repetition, the 
Saviour would not have received it as a grateful tribute 
to himself, and referred to the passage in the Psalms to 
explain and justify it. Nor would such a childish 
imitation have awakened the fears and -displeasure of 
the priests and scribes. They were manifestly greatly 
annoyed by this juvenile demonstration of joy. They 
appealed to Christ in the tones of complaint and 
censure, as if he ought to check those gushing shouts 
of the children that were sounding through the temple. 
"Hearest thou what these say ? And Jesus saith unto 
them, Yea ; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? " 

A careful analysis of the feelings and apprehensions 
of these scribes, awakened by the hosanna of the 
children, and the Scriptural quotation adduced by 
the Saviour as explanatory of their youthful praises, 
furnish a most striking testimonial to the power of 
early religious education, and the important instrumen- 
tality of children in the extension of the Redeemer's 
kingdom. 



80 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

I. We read that " when the Chief Priests and Scribes 
saw the wonderful things which Jesus did, and the 
children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosannah to 
the Son of David ! they were sore displeased.' ' The 
original is expressive of great indignation. ITow there 
must have been something in their view of those 
temple-hosannas beyond a mere childish imitation or 
sympathetic enthusiasm, to excite in their minds such 
deep feelings of indignation. And why should they be 
so much displeased with the children, (as a distinguished 
writer has suggested,) whilst they take no notice of the 
shouts of the multitude in the streets ? 

If their feelings of displeasure originated, as it is 
presumed, from indications of the progress of Christ's 
kingdom, was there not more to be apprehended from 
the shouts of the populace that rent the air than from 
the unconscious anthems of childhood ? In their view 
it would seem not. On the assumption that those chil- 
dren had some true idea of Christ, and that their ho- 
sanna was a genuine outflow of their devotion, the 
writer* above referred to gives the following solution 

* Melvill. — We have adopted the current idea of this author, 
though not in every instance the phraseology, except when marked 
as quotation. 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 81 

of the feelings of displeasure exhibited by the Chief 
Priests and Scribes, why they saw more to alarm them 
in the hymning of the children than in the acclama- 
tions of the multitude. They knew the fickleness of 
the multitude, and how soon this popular ebullition 
might pass away as the morning dew, or be changed 
into the very opposite feelings ; so that the very throng 
which to-day shouted "Hosanna," might to-morrow 
join in the cry of " Crucify him" But they did not so 
regard the convictions and inwrought impressions of the 
children ; they did not seem so likely to be fitful and 
evanescent ; there was something in this hold of Christ 
upon the youthful affections, which to their fears was 
prophetic of the triumph of his cause ; they knew the 
tenacity of early convictions, and the permanency of 
youthful impressions, and therefore their far-reaching 
sagacity foreshadowed these infantile enthusiasts into 
the faithful adherents and marshalled hosts of the Son 
of God. 

This is, therefore, a remarkable concession, yet un- 
consciously offered, on the part of the enemies of Christ, 
to the power of early religious impressions and train- 
ing. Blinded as they were to Christianity, they were, 
as politicians, sufficiently sagacious, and could discern 



82 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

the probable bearings of these juvenile hosannas upon 
the future spread aud establishment of Christ's king- 
dom ; so that their conduct upon this occasion is indi- 
cative of their conviction " that the hymn lisped by 
the infant is likely to be woven into the creed of the 
man." And although we have no historic data to 
prove that the children who shouted hosanna in the 
temple became in mature life the disciples of Christ, it 
is obvious that the probability that such would be the 
result, was felt by these Scribes, and that this was the 
apprehension which awakened their displeasure; so 
that this scene furnishes a most striking testimonial to 
the powerful influence of early religious education. It 
is a concession wrung from the fears of sagacious politi- 
cians, that our highest expectation of diffusing Christi- 
anity rests in training up the rising generation in the 
fear of God, and in the love and obedience of the 
Gospel. 

" And this conviction has universally obtained among 
philanthropists and Christians. There always has been, 
and there yet is, a consciousness, that if a thorough 
hold be gotten of the childhood of a country, the 
greatest possible advantage will be gained for the diffu- 
sion and maintenance of any doctrine; and accord- 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 83 

ingly, whilst those who have most at heart the Christi- 
anity of a people are for covering a land with schools, 
the instruction of which shall draw its staple from the 
Bible, those who would make Christianity secondary, 
or banish it altogether, are for establishing institutions 
in which the young shall be trained, but not in the 
peculiar tenets which "make wise unto salvation." In 
both cases, the persuasion is practically the same, that 
the system of national education determines in a great 
measure the form and features of national character.' ' 

No formal argument for the religious education 
of children could place it in a stronger light, than the 
apprehensions awakened in the minds of these chief 
priests, upon hearing the hosannas of the children in 
the temple. 

And we should be led to more direct and perse- 
vering efforts in view of this fact, to secure this mighty 
auxiliary, in the triumphs of Christianity — by efforts 
in our own family — by Sabbath schools, and in every 
practicable way, contributing our influence, our 
means, and other personal endeavours, to rear the 
children of our country in the principles of the Bible, 
assured that in no other way can we so effectually and 
permanently advance the ultimate success of every 



84 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

moral reform, and elevate our nation and our race in 
the principles of virtue and religion. 

This important aspect of the temple scene is con- 
firmed by the response of the Saviour to the complaint 
of these querulous priests and scribes. 

II. The answer of Jesus was adapted to increase 
the fears of these opponents of his Kingdom, and to 
stimulate the efforts and the hopes of all true Chris- 
tians in the work of rearing the young mind for Christ 
and Heaven. 

This great and infallible Teacher refers them to 
their own Scriptures, for the solution and vindication 
of what had excited their displeasure — "Yea, have 
ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and suck- 
lings, thou hast perfected praise ? " 

The quotation expresses the Saviour's approval of 
what the scribes thought reprehensible. It is a beauti- 
ful tribute to the acceptableness of such infant hymn- 
ings of his praise, and ought to be a most persuasive 
incentive to parents, to rear their little ones to lisp his 
name and sing his love. "The proud and unholy 
might look with anger and contempt on the young 
Christians, as they lisped their hosannas; but the gra- 
cious Redeemer, who had taken children in his arms, 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 85 

put liis hands on them and blessed them, regarded 
with complacency the very babes who were taught his 
name, and listened to their praises as to an anthem in 
which his soul had delight." 

The quotation of the Saviour, moreover, was adapted 
to confirm the opinion expressed in the fears of the 
priests and scribes, as to the probable influence of the 
rising generation in the furtherance' of the Messiah's 
kingdom. They seemed to have more apprehensions 
from the hymns of the children in the temple, than 
from the shouts of the multitude in the streets. And 
the quotation was adapted to justify their fears, that 
from the young, instructed in the doctrines of his Cross, 
his Kingdom would receive its largest accessions and 
mightiest champions. 

This interpretation of the passage gives confirmation 
to the idea which we extract from it, that both from 
the fears of these Jews, and in the views of the 
Saviour himself, there is a mighty power in the reli- 
gious education of children to vindicate the claims of 
religion in the eyes of the world, and a mighty 
instrumentality for the advancement of the Redeemer's 
kingdom in the earth. 

There are two ways in which such an instrumental- 
8 



86 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

ity may be, and is wielded by the religious culture of 
children. They have in manifold instances been 
directly instrumental in conveying religious truth to 
the heart and conscience of the careless and unbeliev- 
ing. There is in religious truth, when uttered by child- 
hood, a simplicity and a touching pathos, that finds its 
way to hearts that are inaccessible by any other means. 
Indurated beyond hope must be the heart that can 
resist the pleadings of infancy. Often, when every 
other entreaty has failed, when the minister and the 
friend have been repelled with obstinate pertinacity, 
has the heart been touched and moved by the lisping 
accents of a Saviour's love, and the " Hosannas " 
simply repeated by the very nurslings of the flock. 
Many a Sunday-School scholar, with its mind stored 
with the truths and texts of the Bible, has carried 
the Gospel to homes unblessed with religion. And 
many a child, as it has sung its infant-school hymns, 
and talked of Jesus in a home where in all its forms 
and sounds religion was a stranger, has awakened 
thoughts, and feelings, and memories in the hearts of 
irreligious parents, which have been blessed by God to 
their salvation. 
Many well-authenticated facts, as well as some that 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 87 

have come under our own observation, might be 
adduced, as practical illustrations of this point. For 
such anecdotal incidents, the reader is referred to the 
chapter on the Mission of Little Children. 

In imbuing the minds of children with the truths of 
the Gospel, and touching their hearts with a Saviour's 
love, we may be equipping the most efficient mission- 
aries to cany the story of the Cross, in all its touching 
simplicity, to many a hardened heart, and many a 
Christless home. 

Again, children early taught to lisp hosannas in the 
temple, early trained in the knowledge and love of 
Christ, are more likely to retain their first religious 
impressions, to grow up Christians, and become the 
firm adherents of Christ and his cause. This seems to 
have been the ground of these priestly apprehensions. 
There was not so much alarm felt at the vociferous 
acclamations of the multitude in the streets, inasmuch 
as that might subside as a momentary ebullition ; but 
the hymnings of the children, that was not likely to 
prove evanescent. They reckoned that if the young 
were taught to acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, there 
were strong reasons to fear they would grow up his 
disciples, become his devoted adherents, and the most 



88 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

effectual promoters of his cause. And was not the 
view taken justified by the answer of the Saviour? and 
do not facts universally confirm the opinion that there 
is wonderful power in the religious education of the 
young; and that the most effectual way of advancing 
the cause of truth and righteousness, is to guide the 
rising generation in the love of truth, and in the prac- 
tice of righteousness ? 

Facts well accredited, show that this is no dream of 
the fancy, or idle speculation. The immortal Raikes, 
at his death, had the satisfactory intelligence, that of 
the 4000 children, reared in the Sabbath School, but 
one had been charged with any crime. The Chaplain 
of the State Prison, N". York, stated in 1829, that of 
the 500 convicts, not one had for any length of time 
been under the influence or instruction of the Sabbath 
School. Numerous statistical facts of a similar des- 
cription are in our possession, illustrative of the Scrip- 
ture promise, annexed to such religious training of 
childhood. " Train up a child in the way he should 
go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 

Similar results have been realized, in the accessions 
to the Church. The sainted Milnor, when in attend- 
ance at one of the Sabbath School anniversaries in 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 89 

London, stated, that in five years, 9755 Sunday School 
teachers, and scholars, in the United States, made a 
profession of religion, of which far the greater number 
was from the youth. The A. S. XL, some years ago, 
reported that 30,000 children from the various Sabbath 
Schools, had united with the Church of Christ. 

Thus, facts of unquestionable authenticity show that, 
by the religious education of Children, the Church has 
received her largest accessions, virtue its most numer- 
ous and consistent adherents, and religion its most 
successful advocates. 

An examination of our Theological Seminaries would 
furnish evidence of the same practical result. The 
greater proportion of those who are preparing for the 
ministry, were the children of pious parents, or received 
early religious training in the Sabbath School. There 
is in Philadelphia, a Lutheran Church, whose Sabbath 
School has now six men in the gospel ministry. Some 
years ago, the students of one of our schools of the 
prophets, made the inquiry, how many among their 
number were the sons of pious parents, and had re- 
ceived their first religious impressions in childhood ; 
and the result of the examination was that four-fifths 
of them could trace- their first religious impressions to 
8* 



90 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

the lessons and hymns of the nursery, and the prayers 
of pious mothers. 

Thus viewing this temple-scene, in the light of illus- 
trative facts, we are encouraged and quickened in the 
work of training the young to shout Hosanna to the 
Son of David. 

We derive a stimulus both from the fears and mur- 
murs of the scribes, and the answer of the Saviour that, 
" Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings God has 
perfected praise." For, "both alike testified that to 
train the young in Christian principles, is to secure for 
those principles advancement and ascendency." 

Let us fully realize the mighty power that may be 
wielded for Christ's kingdom, in the rearing of the 
rising generation — in the knowledge and love of the 
Saviour. Let it be the first great object of those occupy- 
ing the responsible relation of parents, to "bring up 
their children in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord;" that their sons may be as plants grown up 
in their youth, and their daughters as corner-stones 
polished after the similitude of a palace. Ps. cxliv. 12. 

And as philanthropists and Christians, let us aid in 
the benevolent work of Sabbath Schools, the great and 
distinctive object of which is to bring the children to 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 91 

Christ, that they may receive his blessing, and learn to 
praise him in the temple, assured that we can in no 
other way so effectually advance the cause of virtue 
and extend the kingdom of Christ, as by prayerful and 
persevering and combined activity in this direction of 
benevolent effort. 

And how inspiriting to Christian hope is the thought, 
that in this land every Sabbath 300,000 Teachers are 
engaged in imparting religious instruction to the young, 
and that on every Sabbath more than two millions of 
children are singing hosannas in the temples of the true 
and living God ! 

How has that little group of children in the Temple 
at Jerusalem enlarged its numbers, what millions have 
caught up and prolonged that infant Hallelujah, until 
it is beginning to roll like the sound of many waters ! 
And how does the vision open beautifully and majesti- 
cally in the future, when the whole earth shall be one 
vast temple, and from myriads of children, and those 
like children, shall roll round the earth and swell up to 
heaven, " Hosanna to the Son of David I" The king- 
doms of this world have become the kingdom of our 
Lord and of his Christ." 

Let us rightly understand the lessons of this temple- 



92 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMFLB. 

scene, and catch, the inspiration of those infant hymns. 
"We have not seen as we ought the instrumental con- 
nection of little children with the coming of Christ's 
kingdom. We have almost lost sight of the little ones 
in our vast schemes and sublime operations for the con- 
version of the world. We have thought more of the 
multitude shouting in the streets, than the sweet ho- 
sannas of children in the temple. The priests and 
scribes were wiser and more far-seeing than we; for 
they saw more significant indications of Christ's ad- 
vancing kingdom in the simple hymns of the children 
than in all the boisterous acclamations of the adult mul- 
titude. Let us learn from our enemies ; let us look to 
the children as among the mightiest instrumentalities 
for the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. " Of 
such," said Jesus, "is the kingdom of heaven," as 
though he would say to his misconceiving friends, 
" My kingdom is not one which it requires armed force, 
banded hosts of men to establish ; little children are to 
set it up ; if they can be enlisted in my cause, my 
throne is reared in all the earth." "Suffer them to 
come unto me, instil into their minds my doctrines, 
cultivate in their forming hearts my affections, and 
they shall maintain my kingdom ; they shall bear it on 



THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 93 

their young shoulders, grasp it with their tender hands, 
and move it forward with their fresh strength to end- 
less advancement. " 

We conclude this chapter with the inspiriting thoughts 
and words of an eloquent writer.* 

" "With solemn joy I hark to the marshalling of this 
great troop, mightier than all the noisy hosts of the 
camp and the bloody plain. Their tread, far off and 
near by, grows year by year wider and more audible. 
Their van is in the midst of us. Parents and teachers 
are divinely appointed to the lead of the vast company. 
Tyrants and oppressors, all sinners and corrupters of 
human virtue, tremble at their coming. At the trum- 
pet blown by their youthful voices, the walls of every 
evil institution shall fall clown. Quiet, and without 
violence, as the light of the morning, is their advance ; 
but powerful, all-pervading, and creative, as the sun in 
heaven, their influence. I see them banding, I hear 
them approaching, as the very kingdom of heaven. 
Those old words of Jesus ring out more arousing than 
any clarion upon my ear. From the little audience 
gathered on that further side of Jordan, they come as 
melody softly loud to the great Captain's host, but, like 

* Bartol. 



94 THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. 

the music in a march of attack, dreadful to his foes. 
The gentle voice of him who first uttered them, mus- 
tering those that fight with no carnal weapons, waxes 
into a call with which the martial instruments of all 
nations cannot vie. The Commander's speech passes 
down to every one in the conduct under him, till it 
reaches the youngest follower in all his ranks. At the 
pervading sound a decisive movement runs through 
the whole array advancing together. No reeling step 
is seen, no clanking chain or scourging whip is heard. 
Only forward to the victories of peace and love the 
children of a new r -born race, a noble army, go. God 
speed them ! and God help us to speed them on their 
way!" 



Chapter /nurilj, 



TIMOTHY. 



" And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures." — Paul. 



Hold the little hands in prayer 

Let him see thee speaking to thy God : he will not forget it afterwards ; 
"When old and gray, will he feelingly remember a mother's tender piety. 

Tupper. 



Timothy cannot properly be associated with, tlie 
children of the New Testament, except in imagination ; 
but the allusion of the apostle to the religious instruc- 
tion of his childhood, with an obvious intimation that 
the " child was father of the man," authorizes his intro- 
duction here, as a practical illustration of the sentiments 
we have advanced and endeavored to enforce in the 
preceding chapters ; and the reference that is made to 
his mother, whose piety infolded lovingly the spirit of 
her child, inbreathing into it her own spiritual life, 

(95) 



96 TIMOTHY. 

and bathing its young heart with the love of God, sug- 
gests the importance of piety and prayer as essential 
elements of power in the mother, giving efficiency to 
her instructions, and success in moulding the plastic 
child into the Christian man. 

The two allusions of the Apostle give us the requisites 
in the religious education of the child. " And from a 
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. " 2 Tim. 
iii. 15. The unfeigned faith that is in thee, that dwelt 
first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, 
and I am persuaded in thee also." In these two refer- 
ences we have instruction and example combined in 
the education of Timothy. There is something in the 
latter reference that seems to favor Bushnell's theory 
of the " organic unity of the family ; " according to this 
idea, the child is morally connected with the parents — 
a kind of rudimental being, that is to grow up in their 
life — the parents transfusing as it were, their own 
spirit and moral life into the child.* "Whilst we might 
feel some reluctance in the adoption of his theory, in 
its essential idea of organic unity, there is much that 
commends itself to our minds as both reasonable and 
in harmony with the teachings of Scripture. And I 

* See Bushnell on Christian Nurture. 



TIMOTHY. 97 

am sure that it would have been more profitable for 
the Church to have improved by his important sugges- 
tions on Christian nurture, than to raise the cry of 
heresy. There is important truth in his position, that 
there exists, a spiritual vital union between the parent ' 
and the child, and that under the influence of a spirit 
and an example of piety, we are authorized to expect the 
" child to grow up a Christian." This is not original 
with him, but as he says is as old as the Christian 
Church. In the allusion of Paul, " the faith that is in 
thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy 
mother Eunice," there is something that seems like 
a transmission of piety from the one to the other; "the 
Apostle conceives a power in the good life of their 
mothers, that must needs transmit some flavor of 
piety." 

But, apart from his theory, no one questions the 
existence of piety in the' parent as essential to the reli- 
gious education of the child. " Bring them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord," "a form of ex- 
pression," says Bushnell, " which indicates the existence 
of a divine nurture that is to encompass the child and 
mould him unto God; so that he shall be brought up, 

as it were, in Him." 
9 



98 TIMOTHY. 

We present Eunice, in her efforts by precept and 
example, to bring up her child in the nurture and ad- 
monition of the Lord, as an example for the imitation 
of all mothers ; and we present Timothy as an illustra- 
tion of what, under the blessing of God, they may 
reasonably expect as the practical result of such imita- 
tion. 

Every mother should regard it as practicable to rear 
her child a Christian. Taking the ductile mind and 
impressible nature of her little one, surrounding it with 
an atmosphere of love, infusing into its forming heart 
the spirit of piety, and instilling into its opening mind 
the truths of the Gospel, she should seek, under the 
divine blessing, to nurture it into the Christian child, 
to be developed into the Christian man. 

It is true there may be hostile influences sometimes 
counteracting this pious nurture, and disappointing us 
in the practical result; but this should not interfere 
with a faithful discharge of parental duty, in the hope 
that a " child trained up in the way he should go will 
not depart from it when he is old." Let the child be 
instructed in the knowledge of God, and the Saviour, 
and spiritual things, encompassing its early years with 
a pious example and every Christian influence, and 



TIMOTHY. 99 

then in prayer commend the result to God. As a 
quaint preacher once said, "Fill the water-pots with 
water, and Christ may turn it into wine." 

As the early religious instruction of childhood has 
been specially considered in a previous chapter, nothing 
more seems needed than the encouragement and stimu- 
lus afforded to mothers in the example of Eunice, whose 
pious efforts in behalf of her child were so richly re- 
warded in the Christian man, Timothy. 

Like this mother, begin early the process of religious 
education. Be assured, that whatever progress the 
world has made since then, the religious growth of a 
child is still the same. The child has to start from the 
cradle and grow out of it, just as Timothy did. Reli- 
gious character is now, as then, a growth. With all 
modern improvements in the application of steam and 
electricity for the speedier transmission of our bodies 
and our thoughts from city to city, the old law of pro- 
gress and development in the natural and spiritual 
world remains unchanged. The passage from the germ 
to the blossom, from infancy to manhood, from igno- 
rance to wisdom, still goes, and must go, by the old 
slow method of growth and development. The flower 
does not spring up full-grown ; it rises from the germ 



100 TIMOTHY. 

by a development and an increase noiseless and gentle. 
So, said the Saviour, is the kingdom of God, as if a 
man should cast seed into the ground, and the seed 
should spring up and grow, first the blade, then the 
ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Mark iv. 
26-29. 

This was the process of religious growth and deve- 
lopment in the case of Timothy. It began in his in- 
fancy on the bosom of his mother. 

Among the first things to be done by the believing 
mother for her child, is its presentation to Christ in 

BAPTISM. 

It would not comport with the current spirit and 
tone of this book to notice the polemical aspect of in- 
fant baptism. It would be out of taste, and of ques- 
tionable utility. Believing that the Christian dispen- 
sation is only a continuation, a fuller development of 
the Jewish ; the same church expanded into a nobler 
form ; * we expect a parallel between circumcision and 
baptism as initiatory rites in the two dispensations. If 
infants, by the express direction of God, were admitted 

* Kip, Double Witness of the Church, Section II. 



TIMOTHY. 101 

by circumcision into the Jewish church, why may they 
not now be received into the Christian fold by baptism ? 
The church is essentially the same in all ages, and the 
ancient promise is still made "to us and our children." 
I cannot forbear quoting here the remarks of Bush- 
nell, showing the relation of his theory of organic 
unity to infant baptism. " The child is too young to 
choose the rite for himself; but the parent, having him 
as it were in his own life, is allowed the confidence that 
his own faith and character will be reproduced in the 
child, and grow up in his growth ; and that thus the 
propriety of the rite as a seal of faith will not be vio- 
lated. In giving us this rite on the grounds stated, 
God promises, in fact, on his part to dispense that 
spiritual grace which is necessary to the fulfilment of 
its import. In this way, too, it is seen that the Chris- 
tian economy has a place for all ages ; for it would be 
singular if, after all we say of the universality of God's 
mercy as a gift to the human race, it could yet not 
limber itself to man, so as to adopt a place for the age 
of childhood, but must leave a full fourth part of the 
race, the part least hardened in evil and tenderest to 
good, unrecognized and unprovided for; gathering a 

flock without lambs, or, I should rather say, gathering 
9* 



102 TIMOTHY. 

a flock away from the lambs. Such is not the spirit 
of Him who said, " Forbid them not, for of such is the 
kingdom of Heaven." Therefore we bring them into 
the school of Christ, and the pale of his mercy with 
us, there to be trained up in the holy nurture of the 
Lord." 

Every act of Christ in relation to children, and his 
repeated declaration that " of such is the kingdom of 
Heaven," justifies the conclusion that he would not bid 
the little ones stand without the sacred fold. Such an 
exclusion of little children from the grace and blessings 
of his church would be utterly inconsonant with his 
whole character — a deportment so expressive of tender- 
ness and affection for children, as well as irreconcile- 
able with the prophetic representation of the Messiah 
as the Good Shepherd, who should " gather the lambs 
with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." 

It would be strange indeed, if, in a "scheme of 
mercy" for the world, the Saviour had found no place 
for infants and little children. Strange if the parents 
should be included in the holy communion of the 
Church, whilst the innocent little ones should be left 
without the fold, without the imparted grace and the 
Christian nurture of the Church. The idea is inadmis- 



TIMOTHY. 103 

sible ; we fondly clasp to our hearts the cherished 
doctrine of infant baptism as taught in our church, 
founded, as we believe, in the word of God. 

" Of the two great ideas of our religion, Holiness 
and Love, one stands behind the Lord's table, and the 
other guards the baptismal font. It is, then, no slight 
thing when you offer your child to take this sign which 
led on Judaism to Christianity. It is a consecration to 
the Lord.* 

Let no speculative difficulties keep you from this 
consecration of your child to God. Do not, like the 
disciples, keep your child from Christ, under the idea 
it is too young to believe — too young to receive the grace 
and blessing of Christ. Who can positively affirm 
that a child is incapable of faith ? "What do we know 
of the capabilities of a child's mind ? A child has faith 
in its mother ; why may.it not exercise belief in Jesus ? 
The child reposes in its mother's arms with as much 
confiding security as the philosopher rests in the laws 
of the universe. "Why may it not rest as confidingly 
in the arms of Jesus? There is no psychological 
absurdity in the idea of a child having faith ; and all 
the assertions to the contrary are wholly gratuitous and 
founded in ignorant assumptions. 

* Bartol. 



104 TIMOTHY. 

"I do not hold," said Luther, "that children are 
without faith when they are baptized; for, inasmuch 
as they are brought to Christ by his command, and that 
the church prayeth for them, therefore, without all 
doubt, faith is given unto them, although with our 
natural sense and reason we neither see nor under- 
stand it."* 

Nor can any one deny that a child may be the sub- 
ject of divine influence; that there may be an agency 
of the Holy Spirit adapted to an infant's mind. 

But, dismissing all speculations upon this point, it 
should be enough for the parents to know that they are 
invited to bring the child, and devote it to the Lord in 
holy baptism ; and that, by that solemn rite, it becomes 
a member of the church of Christ, and the subject of 
divine grace. It is a pledge of acceptance, securing for 
the child the gift of the Holy Ghost ; and thus received 
into a covenant relation to each of the three persons in 
whose one name they are baptized, " acceptance by the 
Father, union with Christ, and the Communion of the 
Holy Ghost.'" 

This we conceive is one of the first duties of a parent 
to the child. Before it is susceptible of any influence 

* Coleridge's Literary Remains. 



TIMOTHY. 105 

or instruction from the mother, let it be brought to the 
baptismal font, placed under the gentle stream falling 
from the skies, whose mild outpouring is ordained of 
God to purify and bless the child. Bring your little 
one first to Christ, to be infolded in his love, and ga- 
thered as a lamb to his flock. What spectacle more 
lovely than the sight of a Christian mother bringing her 
unconscious child and consecrating it forever to the 
Lord! This scene, as one of spiritual beauty, in its 
significance and after-blessedness, is so touchingly pre- 
sented by Willis, that we cannot close more happily 
than by its insertion. 

" She stood up in the meekness of a heart 
Eesting on God, and held her fair young child 
Upon her bosom, with its gentle eyes 
Folded in sleep, as if its soul had gone 
To whisper the baptismal vow in heaven. 
The prayer went up devoutly, and the lips 
Of the good man glow'd fervently with faith 
That it would be even as he had pray'd, 
And the sweet child be gather' d to the fold 
Of Jesus. As the holy words went on 
Her lips moved silently, and tears, fast tears, 
Stole from beneath her lashes, and upon 
The forehead of the beautiful child lay soft 
With the baptismal water. Then I thought 
That to the eye of God, that mother's tears 



106 TIMOTHY. 

Would be a deeper covenant — which sin 

And the temptations of the world, and death 

Would leave unbroken — and that she would know 

In the clear light of heaven, how very strong 

The prayer which pressed them from her heart had been 

In leading its young spirit up to God. 

Having made the consecration, be careful that as its 
mind unfolds into intelligent consciousness there be 
nothing to check its spiritual growth ; be careful that 
all the words and looks and smiles around that child 
be the effusion of Christian love ; that there be no evil 
tempers and passions, or any manifestation of sin, to 
soil its spirit. For whilst the flowers of earth drink in 
sweetness only from " every air that stirs," 



' the child 



That shuts within its breast a bloom for heaven, 
May take a blemish from the breath of love, 
And bear the blight forever. 

As soon as it is susceptible of religious instruction, 
instil into its mind the simple truths of the Gospel, and 
infuse into its heart your own spirit of faith and love 
and prayer; and "live the better life into the child. 
Let the child grow up in your home as in the sanctuary 
of God," the church of childhood, surrounded with a 
holy atmosphere, a holy spiritual life; "all glowing 



TIMOTHY. 107 

about the young soul as a warm and genial nurture, 
and forming in it, by methods that are silent and im- 
perceptible, a spirit of duty and religious obedience to 
God. This only is Christian nurture, the nurture of 
the Lord." 

Thus by baptism, prayer, instruction, and example, 
rear that immortal nursling, for a developement and 
growth in Christ the Lord. Realizing in your varied 
and pious efforts, the beautiful description of Gold- 
smith's village pastor. 

" And, as a bird each fond endearment tries, 
To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies, 
He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, 
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way." 

And like the pious Eunice, honored in sacred history 
— immortalized in Christian memory as the mother of 
Timothy — you shall be blessed in your children, and 
confer perpetual blessings upon the Church and the 
world. 

" Happy are they who, instead of a tablet in the 
Church-yard wall, are thus commemorated by polished 
stones in the living temple.' ' * 

* Hamilton. 



Chapter /i% 



THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 



Then Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethle- 
hem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to 
the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. — Matthew. 



" Hail, infant sufferers ! martyr'd flow'rets, hail ! 
Ye fell, as new-born roses fall, when scatter'd by the gale. 
Earliest of all were ye that suffer' d for the word, 
Sweet firstlings of that slaughter' d flock so precious to the Lord ; 
And round his heavenly altar now, his high uplifted throne, 
Ye guileless sport the crown and palm your martyrdom hath won." 



This scene of murdered infants is a strange and 
touching coincidence in the advent of Jesus. Strange, 
that martyred innocence should signalize the coming 
of Him whose mission was not to destroy, but to save 
life ! We are conscious of a painful revulsion of feeling 
in the sudden transition from the cradle of the infant 
Redeemer, surrounded by the prostrate worship of the 

(108) 



THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 109 

eastern magi, and the adoring wonder of the shepherds, 
to this sanguinary scene of slaughtered infants, the in- 
nocent victims of fiendish passion. There is an inde- 
finable feeling of something painfully inconsonant in 
that wail of bereaved and sorrowing mothers, almost 
commingling with the jubilant songs of the angels, 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good will toward men." 

But let no momentary feelings of revulsion, awak- 
ened by this tragical scene, exclude from our minds 
the recognition of a Divine Providence. Let us not 
view this outburst of tyrannic passion as a wild, ungo- 
verned power, breaking into the domain of Providence. 
"The Lord reigneth;" and with this concession we are 
bound to admit the great principle in the dispensations 
of God, "that whatever evil he permits he overrules 
for good, although we may not be able always to dis- 
cern the good produced from the evil permitted." 

In this scriptural aspect of Divine Providence, we can 

believe there was wisdom in the permission of that 

bloody scene, and that even the Divine goodness did 

not forsake those homes of calamity. Who will deny 

that even there, there were hearts that felt that God 

was near them in that fearful visitation ? and, in that 
10 



110 THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 

consciousness, looked beyond the surrounding darkness 
to the calm heaven — to the presence of God above ? 

But, it may be asked, why did not Almighty good- 
ness interpose, and shield those innocent victims from 
that murderous hand, and spare those maternal hearts 
that crushing weight of sorrow ? " Had it been best, 
truly best, in the whole view of things, can we doubt 
that it would have interposed ? Then it was not best." 
But, still it may be urged, that this was not the work 
of Providence, but of a vindictive and lawless tyrant. 
But was Herod beyond the grasp and control of the 
Omnipotent hand? If not, then was that scene 
permitted by God, and, according to an obvious prin- 
ciple of the Divine government, overruled and made 
conducive to wise and gracious ends ? 

This scene of infanticide, however revolting to our 
feelings, is not so utterly abnormal in the dispensations 
of Divine Providence, as to be irreconcilable with the 
revealed wisdom and goodness of God. "We feel no 
difficulty in the case of the martyr. We almost forget 
his physical pangs, and the injustice which doomed 
him to the torturing fires, when we look at his soul and 
see how it is borne up to the noblest heroism and 
triumph, converting the very flames which encircle and 



THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. HI 

consume the body into a chariot, in which his soul is 
borne to heaven. And yet the martyr is sacrificed to 
the most enormous error, and the most vindictive 
passion of which the w T orld can be guilty. But, it may 
be said, the martyr dies for a principle, for truth, for 
the good of others. And so did the infants of Bethle- 
hem. They have always been reckoned among the 
martyrs. And it is beautiful to think, says an eloquent 
writer, that as the spirits of the martyred little ones 
soared towards heaven, they may have been taught to 
look on the infant in whose stead they died ; that He 
for whom they had been sacrificed was about to be 
sacrificed for them, and that they were mounting to 
glory on the merits of that defenceless Babe, as he 
seemed then, hurrying as an outcast into Egypt. Oh ! 
the voice of weeping might have been heard in Rama ; 
but those over whom the roused mothers lamented had 
entered into heaven, as the first fruits to God and the 
Lamb, and were already celebrating the praises of Him 
whose blood, not yet shed, had provided for their 
ransom.* So that the slaughtered infants, dying we 
almost might say for the Saviour, won something like 
the martyr's crown, which shall forever sparkle on their 

* Melvill. 



112 THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 

foreheads. " These," as Matthew Henry quaintly says, 
" were the infantry of the noble army of martyrs." 

In this aspect, this tragical scene is no more at va- 
riance with the goodness of God, than the fate of mil- 
lions that have suffered martyrdom, the victims of 
bigotry and persecution. 

And then this scene acquires perhaps an undue enor- 
mity to the imagination, because viewed as a general 
picture. It seems an overwhelming catastrophe, be- 
cause, in part at least, we see all those slain infants, 
anguished mothers, and shaded homes, grouped toge- 
ther in one dark picture. But separate them, indivi- 
dualize them, as they certainly were in the experience. 
Each home had its own sorrow ; each mother had her 
own anguish, as much alone in her bereavement, her 
pained affections, her prayers, alone with her God, as 
if she were the only chastened mother, and hers the 
only sorrowing home, in Bethlehem. And that scene, 
save for the horrid manner of its production, is but 
the scene of every week in a large city, where there are 
a hundred sorrowing hearts and tearful families, be- 
cause loved ones have gone to their long home and the 
"mourners go about the streets." 

As a further vindication of this calamitous scene, 



THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 113 

from any aspersions which it might seem to reflect 
upon the mercy and goodness of Divine Providence, 
we remark, that it was no doubt made subservient to 
wise and beneficent ends. 

Those Jewish mothers may have looked upon their 
children with an idolatrous pride and affection, each 
one with a fond and ambitious partiality imagining her 
own to be the child of prophecy, the Great Deliverer ; 
and if so, they needed that painful discipline which 
God still administers to parents by the death of their 
children. 

And then it is not difficult to see how these infants 
were, in an important sense, martyrs for the truth. It 
was matter of prophetic record, that the Messiah should 
be born in Bethlehem, and at this particular time ; and 
as Herod, by this infanticide, had exterminated all the 
other malS children, the conclusion was irresistible that 
Jesus must be the predicted Messiah ; so that the very 
effort to crush the new-born king but served to vindi- 
cate his divine mission; and that sword of Herod, 
crimsoned with the blood of murdered infants, did 
almost demonstrate that Jesus was the Messiah. 

In these, and other ways unknown to us, that bloody 

scene may have subserved important and beneficent 
10* 



114 THE INFANTICIDE AT BETHLEHEM. 

ends, and that too without any essential injury to the 
innocent victims of Herod's fury. For " the rage of 
Herod against the infant king but sent the little ones 
to shout among the blessed His praises. 

Who brought them there, 
Without a wish, without a care." 

They were taken from the evil to come — from Ju- 
dah's impending desolation. It was well for them to 
be removed from earth, ere it shook under the terrible 
judgments of God. It was a mercy for those innocent 
babes to be borne away in their untarnished beauty, 
before the gathering storm — and of such, how truly it 
may be said — 

" The less of this poor earth, the more of heaven ! 
The briefer life, the earlier immortality ! " 

This tragical scene at Bethlehem, thus viewed and 
explained, naturally suggests the following interesting 
topics of thought upon Little Children, viz., The Death, 
Mission, Heavenly Home, and Recognition of these 
little ones. 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 115 



The Death of Little Children. 

u The lovely bud, so young and fair, 
Called hence by early doom, 
Just came to show, how sweet a flower 
In paradise would bloom." 

There is something in this section, that comes home 
to our hearts with a touching personal interest. There 
are few homes in which there is not some sad memo- 
rial of departed beauty — some broken link in the 
chain of association, that comes round with a tearful 
memory. There are few parental hearts that have not 
felt the pain of wounded affection, over some withered 
hope, and in whose memory there still lingers with a 
chastened sorrow the beauteous image of the early lost* 

The death of little children is admitted both in the 
representations of Scripture and personal experience, to 
be among the most painful bereavements of providence 
— one of the most crushing of earthly trials. The grief 
of repentance over the sufferings of Christ is compared 
by an inspired prophet, "to the bitter mourning of a 
father for his child. " And the wail of bereaved affec- 



116 TIIE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

tion over the heartless massacre of the children at 
Bethlehem, is described with imagery most sad and 
touching, " a mother long dead stirring in her grave 
at the cry of her children, and rising from the dust 
which was moistened with their blood that she might 
water it with her tears." In Rama was then a voice 
heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, 
Rachel weeping for her children and would not be 
comforted because they are not. Matt. xi. 18. 

It is in the experience of all a bitter anguish. It is 
so to the father accustomed as he is to the sterner scenes 
and conflicts of life. " There is a vacancy in his home 
and a heaviness in his heart ; " and he weeps in all the 
tenderness of wounded aifection — "In all the silent 
manliness of grief. " 

But no one feels the death of a child as a mother ; 
its infancy was pillowed on her bosom; every gleam 
of intelligence and beauty unfolded under her eye; 
every smile of responsive endearment has sunned her 
heart ; every lisping of its affection is among her trea- 
sured memories. It has been around her home as a 
Igleam of sunshine, and its innocent prattle was the 
music of her life. It is bound to her heart by so many 
Bweet remembrances and associations, by a love so deep 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 117 

and tender, that its death is like the breaking of a thou- 
sand quivering ties. She leans over its last sickness 
with painful suspense, watching the faint ebbings of 
life — the flickering light of its closing eyes, and turns 
away from its looks of death. 

" I cannot see thee die : I cannot brook 

Upon thy brow to look, 
And see death settle on my cradle joy. 

And oh ! my last caress 
Must feel thee cold, for a chill hand is on thee." 

And when the dread consciousness comes over the 

soul like a chilling death-shade, "the child is dead," 

the heart is smitten and afflicted with a grief too deep 

for human sympathy^ a sorrow too heavy for any hand 

to lift but God's. And after the first outgushings of 

grief are over and the mourners have gone to the grave 

and placed the loved form in the long night of the 

sepulchre to see it here no more, the sorrowing heart 

takes its last leave. 

"And so farewell! 
'Tis a harsh world, in which affection knows 
No place to treasure up its loved and lost 
But the foul grave/' 

That is a moment of bitter grief; and when they 
return to the home all shaded and still, the gleam of 



118 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 



sunshine that was there is gone and hushed in the 
voice of gladness. And as yearning affection asks 
will the loved child never return to us ? " Nevermore !" 
nevermore ! " The heart is like an empty mansion 
and that word goes echoing through its desolate cham- 
bers." 

O, there is a feeling of sadness and desolation in the 
heart ; and bereavement, dimmed with tears and faint- 
ing with sorrow, sighs for light and comfort more than 
human. And is there no light from Heaven to cheer 
that home of gloom ? Is there no balm in our holy 
religion to soothe the wounded affections ? Are there 
no words of Jesus for the weeping Kachels, who turn 
away from human sympathy, and refuse to be comforted 
because their children are not ? 

Blessed be the name of the Lord — there is light, 
there is balm, there are words of Jesus for the 
anguished heart — words like those once spoken to the 
tossing sea, " Peace, be still!" words which, when 
spoken to the tossed and troubled heart, diffuse there a 
sweet, holy, and heavenly peace. 

Let us turn from the dark and earthly side of the 
picture, to its bright and spiritual phase, and view the 
light reflected from the Bible upon this scene of affliction. 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 119 

The Bible teaches the mourners to trace their 
bereavement to the hand of God, and inspires the con- 
viction that that hand is never stretched out to his 
people but in mercy ; and that its most painful touches 
are but the chastenings of a Father's love. 

I. This is the first source of consolation to the 
bereaved parents; a higher and purer ground and 
principle of submission than even that derived from the 
consoling thought of the child's blessedness ; and has 
been realized as a substantial source of comfort, even 
without the latter element of joy. 

Our bereavements come from God. It is not chance 
— it is not a blind and ruthless fate that takes the little 
ones from the warm embrace of parental love. It is 
the hand of God. Nor must we lose sight of this hand 
because veiled behind his laws. There is clanger in 
this, because there is in the operation of secondary 
causes a deceptive veil spread over the senses, that 
favors the delusion. 

If we had seen the vexed prophet beside his withered 
gourd, we should scarcely have thought of tracing that 
shrivelled plant to the hand that stretched abroad the 
Heavens as a curtain ; and if we had gone up, and 
from a closer inspection found the reptile preying on 



120 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

its roots, the discovery of this immediate cause of its 
withering would naturally tend to exclude from our 
minds any recognition of the Divine agency. And in 
accounting for the matter, we should be likely to say 
that the worm destroyed Jonah's gourd, without any 
ulterior reference to the hand of God. This is the 
popular delusion in regard to Divine Providence. 

If pestilence stalk through the land, ye say, This is God's doing ; 

Is it not also his doing when an Aphis creepeth on a rose-bud ? 

If an avalanche roll from its Alps, ye tremble at the will of 

Providence ; 
Is not that will concerned when the sere leaves fall from the poplar ? 

Tupper. 

And so if that ephemeral shelter of the prophet had 

been scathed by the lightning, the spontaneous feeling 

would have been, it is the hand of God ; but seeing a 

worm at its root, the fading of the plant is sufficiently 

accounted for, without the recognition of any higher 

power. 

And by the same delusion, if a child were struck by 

lightning in its mother's arms, we would be ready to 

acknowledge in that flash the radiant finger of God. 

But if a child gradually fades and dies by some obvious 

disease, then we lose sight of God. But what says the 

Bible ? "What does it say of that gourd withering over 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 121 

the head of the angry prophet ? " God prepared a 
worm when the morning rose the next day, and it 
smote the gourd, that it withered.' ' So that even when 
we can see the immediate cause of events, we are still 
to refer them to the mediate agency of God. 

In this view of divine providence, we are to regard 
our bereavements as proceeding from God. Death, 
like every other event, is entirely under his dominion. 
It is the divine prerogative both to impart life and to 
take it away ; so that whatever may be the immediate 
cause of death, it must still be traced to Him, in whose 
hand our breath is ; so that every one who is bereaved 
of a child has reason to believe and say, "It is the 
Lord." David in his bereavement, tracing his sorrow 
up to God, exclaims, " Thou didst it." And Job, in a 
similar affliction, gives expression to the same senti- 
ment, " The Lord hath taken away." 

This is the true ground "of submission and consola- 
tion. The duty is both obvious and pleasant. It is to 
be still and know that he is God. If your bereavement 
is from God, then it is not only wise and just, but per- 
fectly kind and benevolent. And the conviction "that 
he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of 

men" — "that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" — 
11 



122 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

is adequate reason for the most cheerful and unreserved 
submission under the severest trials. In this recogni- 
tion of the divine hand, and quiet submission to the 
divine will, there is sweet and substantial consolation ; 
there is in that very acquiescent state of mind, that 
conscious harmony of the heart with the will of God, 
a sweet and heavenly peace, which passeth all under- 
standing. m 

I know the loss of a child is a painful touch of the 
divine hand ; it is like rending the very fibres of the 
heart, and the agonized affections seek for relief and 
comfort; and it is a holy and delicate office to adminis- 
ter consolation to the wounded spirit. But we know 
of no consolation for that forlorn and desolate heart, 
but in the Great Providence of God; but in seeing 
that their bereavement is not " a chance blow, a ran- 
dom accident, set apart from its beneficent dominion. " 
I can see no other comfort for the mourner ; and hard 
as it may be for the bleeding heart to look upon a trial 
so painful, as a kind, sacred, and solemn dispensation 
of heaven, " this I would pray each one to do, to lean 
upon the bosom of the All-wise Providence, and to 
saj, even as the Great Sufferer said in the dread hour, 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 123 

when all earthly evils and sorrows were leagued against 
him, " Father ! thy will be done ! " — 

"Whate'er thy will ordains, 
give me strength to bear; 
Still let me know a Father reigns, 
And trust a Father's care." 

And that it is not a mere religious common-place to 
say that this trust can help us, that a humble, childlike 
faith in the good providence of God, can bring com- 
fort in the darkest hours of human sorrow, is evident 
from the beautiful illustrations in Scripture, and in our 
own clay, of such submission and such divine consola- 
tion in bereavement. 

David, when his mind was in painful conflict on the 
loss of some dear relative or friend, realized in his 
bereavement the hand of God, and bowed in humble 
submission to the divine will ; and more than this, he 
seemed to be happy when he said, "I was dumb, I 
opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." Job 
appeared to be happy when he said, "The Lord gave, 
and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord." 

And there seemed to be a calm and happy feeling in 
the answer of the Shunamite, "It is well," when the 



124 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

child of her age, her only child, had just expired in her 
arms. He was given " like a flower in winter, to cheer 
the aged parents with its unexpected fragrance, and its 
late and delicate beauty. ' ' Its smile brightened the falling 
shadows of life's evening, and their quiet home echoed 
with the merry voice of childhood ; and now that late 
sweet flower is withered ; the shadows fall deeper and 
darker than before, since that child that was as a tran- 
sient light is gone ; it was a bitter sorrow, and yet she 
could answer " It is well ; " and in the feeling of acqui- 
escence in the divine will which prompted that answer 
there was not only submission, but a secret and shaded 

joy. 

Let those who are called to experience this bitter 
sorrow "hear the rod, and who hath appointed it;" 
let them feel "it is the Lord," and that God is good, 
and all that concerns them is the care of infinite love. 
This confidence of love will diffuse heavenly consolation 
through the sorrowing heart. In childlike confidence 
repose your burdened spirit upon the bosom of that 
Saviour who was sent "to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to give the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment 
of praise for the spirit of heaviness;" and you will 
realize a holy rest and joy in God. 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 125 

" While you feel your wounds are healing, 
While the heart is all resign'd ; 
; Tis the solemn feast of feeling, 
'Tis the Sabbath of the mind." — Montgomery. 

II. The second source of consolation to the bereaved 
parents, is the conviction of the child's immortal bless- 
edness in heaven. 

It is a sentiment well-nigh universal, that all children 
who die in a state of infancy are saved ; I know that 
some system-bound expositors of the Bible have ex- 
pressed the sentiment in a somewhat dubious form ; 
" it is probable, it is to be hoped, that all infants are 
saved," but that sentiment has never found an echo in 
a sorrowing heart, it is abjured by all the religious 
intuitions of the bereaved Christian, and as we con- 
ceive by the teachings of the divine word and the 
whole scheme of redemption ; and it is well, that on a 
subject of such touching interest to bereaved affection, 
there is not left a lingering shadow to obscure the 
pleasing hope. 

Without entering here upon an elaborate argument 

for infant salvation, we remark that our belief in this 

cherished doctrine is derived mainly from the nature 

and comprehensive scheme of redemption, and the 

11* 



126 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

several utterances of the Saviour concerning children 
which obviously involve the doctrine. 

Christ has died for the sins of the whole world, and 
his blood cleanseth from all sin; he came into the 
world to save sinners. There is no evasion of the fact 
that infants are involved in the fall of Adam and are 
born with a depraved heart : the Psalmist acknow- 
ledged the corruption of his nature,- "Lo, in iniquity I 
was born and in sin did my mother conceive me," 

The iniquity and sin meant are not those of his 
mother, but his own (Alexander on the Psalms). Paul 
says, "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin." 
Infants are sinners in the important sense, that they as 
well as the adult can be saved only by the death of 
Christ; it is this fact which places them within the 
sphere of redeeming grace ; it is because they are sin- 
ners in the sense just indicated that we are authorized 
to believe that, dying in infancy, they are saved by 
grace, they have never by any personal conscious act 
disobeyed the will of God, never by voluntary unbelief 
rejected the Saviour or grieved the Holy Spirit, and are 
therefore saved by the grace of Christ. Any other 
view would be utterly at variance with the whole 
scheme of redeeming mercy, and confound all our con- 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 127 

captions of the equity and goodness of the divine 
government. 

The doctrinal aspect of the subject is forcibly 
expressed in an old epitaph: — 

Bold Infidelity, turn pale and die; 
Beneath this stone four infant bodies lie. 

Say, are they lost or saved ? 
If Death's by sin, they sinned — for they lie here ; 
If Heaven's by works, in Heaven they can't appear. 
Eeason, oh, how depraved ! revere the sacred page ; 
They died, for Adam sinned ; they live, for Jesus died. 

The same truth is inolved in what Christ on differ- 
ent occasions said concerning little children : " Of such 
is the kingdom of God." The primary meaning of 
the Saviour in this declaration, no doubt, is, that his 
kingdom is composed of such as possess the childlike 
temper and disposition. But does it not, by a neces- 
sary implication, include children in that kingdom? 
Would it not involve the most glaring solecism to pre- 
dicate salvation of those who resemble children in their 
temper and disposition, and yet exclude from Heaven 
those whom they resemble ? 

We are, therefore, forced by any fair construction of 
our Lord's words, to the inference that if his kingdom 
here is composed of such as possess the childlike 



128 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

temper, his kingdom there is made up in an eminent 
degree of little children. 

The declarations of Christ, in the eighteenth chapter 
of Matthew, are of similar import. "Except ye be 
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever, there- 
fore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same 
is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. Even so it is 
not the will of your Father which is in Heaven, that 
one of these little ones should perish." Matt, xviii. 
3, 4, 14. 

There is no admissible exposition of these several 
passages, that does not necessarily involve the salvation 
of children. 

This precious doctrine is, therefore, founded upon 
the atonement of Christ, including children who are 
saved by grace, and whose salvation is affirmed by the 
Saviour in those words declarative of their meetness 
for his Heavenly kingdom. So that the bereaved 
parent may feel the consoling assurance that the same 
Saviour who once said of the little ones, " Of such is 
the kingdom of God," has taken their loved one as a 
lamb, " safely folded where the spoiler can never come." 
And in this assurance of faith and hope exclaim — 
"Not lost, but gone before." 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 129 

Remember, that though the tie which bound that 
child to you is broken, it can never be separated from 
God ; and from you, if a Christian, only for a season. 
Let this hope cheer your saddened heart, and span the 
dark cloud that hangs over your home with the beaute- 
ous bow of promise. And painful as it may be to take 
that cherished form from your bosom, and hide it in 
the gloom of the sepulchre, remember, that Jesus has 
sanctified the grave. And as you go there to meditate 
in mingled feelings of hope and sorrow, think of those 
little graves as but "the cradles where, in the quiet 
motions of the globe, Jesus rocks his sleeping children. 
And that by and by he will wake them from their 
slumber, and in the arms of angels they shall be trans- 
lated to the skies." 

" Asleep in Jesus ! peaceful rest, 
Whose waking is supremely blest." 

But, in connection with this one great sustaining 
hope, there are various collateral aspects of early death 
of special application to bereaved parents, and which 
" suggest the richest and sweetest compensations" for 
their painful loss. 

In the translation of your child to heaven in its in- 
fant innocence and beauty, all your plans and hopes 



130 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

concerning it have been fulfilled. Painful as it may 
be, its death, is in fact the realization of more than your 
brightest dreams and hopes of the future. 

You had perhaps planned its education, the develop- 
ment of its mind, and the unfolding of its moral na- 
ture, and its adornment with all intellectual refinement 
and graceful accomplishments ; and for the execution 
of this cherished plan, you feel that you would be pre- 
pared to endure the self-denials and privations con- 
nected with expenditure of means and the child's 
absence from home. But, whilst you are planning and 
dreaming of the future, the child dies. What then ? 
Are your plans frustrated, and your hopes turned into 
mere illusions of the fancy ? Not at all. 

"Ere sin could blight, or sorrow fade, 
Death came with friendly care, 
The opening bud to Heaven conveyed 
And bade it blossom there." — Coleridge. 

It is transferred to the infant school of heaven, for 
the peculiar training of these buds and blossoms of 
immortal being. It is placed in the school of Heaven, 
under the tuition of the Great Teacher, with the com- 
panionship of angels ; a school where the only " disci- 
pline is love, the only lesson immortality." And can 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 131 

you murmur when God has interposed to execute your 

most cherished scheme, only in a different form and on 

an infinitely higher and grander scale ? Can you not 

patiently bear the temporary absence of your child 

from the home-circle, knowing that it is only at school, 

inspired with the hope of meeting it there, radiant with 

celestial wisdom? and perhaps realize the fancy of the 

poet, in the confession, 

" Thou art to me a parent now, 
And I a child to thee." 

But, as a Christian parent, your tenderest solicitude 
is for the moral culture and SDiritual well-beins; of the 
child. It is the growth of that child, surrounded with 
an atmosphere infected by sin, exposed to the wiles of 
the Great Destroyer, and the seductive charms of sin- 
ful pleasure, to which its native proclivity to evil but 
too readily responds ; it is this prospective exposure 
and consequent imperilled suspense of its moral des- 
tiny, that fills you often with sleepless anxieties and 
wrestling prayer. And if it should live, with what 
painful emotions would you witness the first ebullitions 
of sinful passion, the first flashes of anger, the first 
developments of that moral virus, which, " however it 
may brood for a season, in a sort of ambiguous con- 



132 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

cealment, among the inscrutable mysteries of an in- 
fant's spirit," so soon gives painful evidence of the fact 
that we are all born in sin and shapen in iniquity. 
And who but a parent knows the watchings and 
prayers, and tremblings of the heart for a child in 
these circumstances, and how every expedient that 
affection can devise, or divine wisdom has suggested, 
is employed, with prayer, to direct that child to the 
Lamb of God, to shield it from the evil that is in the 
world, to train it to virtue, and purity and holiness. 
This, if you are a Christian parent at all conscious of 
your responsibility, you have experienced, and can 
moreover testify that your intensest aims and hopes for 
your child all culminate in its final salvation in heaven. 
But your child is dead — gone before its heart had 
learned to sin, or its sportive feet to stray — gone 
" Gentle and undefiled, 
With blessings on its head." 

Then this bereavement, so sad and touching, is in fact 
the dissipation of all your fears, and the consummation 
of all your hopes. Your little one is beyond the reach 
of sin and pain — 

" Yes, thou art fled — ere guilt had power 
To stain thy cherub soul and form; 
Closed is the soft ephemeral flower 
That never felt a storm 1 " 



THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 133 

It is gone where no sin can enter, and no spoiler come. 
It is enrobed with the righteousness of Jesus, and its 
infant voice is attuned to a music and praise sweeter 
than angels use. Its heart is filled with a bliss and 
rapture unknown on earth ; imparadised in the bosom 
of Infinite Love ! 

And much as you feel its loss, painfully as you miss 
its sunny face and innocent prattle and affectionate 
greetings in the home gatherings ; does it not, now 
that the violence of your grief is subsiding, seem 
a gentle and gracious dispensation that removed it from 
the evil to come ? 

If that vision of beauty had remained, how soon its 
brightness had been shaded with sorrow, soiled by sin, 
and marred by passion ! But — 

" Now not a sullying breath can rise 
To dim its glory in the skies ! " 

No ! can you not say, No ! child of my love, I would 

not call thee back from thy pure and sinless and blissful 

home in the skies, to this home on earth, shaded with 

sin and sorrow! I would not call thee back to this 

yearning heart from the bosom of the everlasting 

Father ! 
12 



134 THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

"No ! angel, keep thy place 
Amid heaven's cherub train." 
Feel thy loss I must ; weep indeed, I may : — 
" But not that from this cup of bitterness 
A cherub of the sky has turn'd away." 






And I can leave my heart to this bereavement, not 
only with unmurmuring submission, but with a chas- 
tened pleasure and grateful joy. " The Lord gave, and 
the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 135 



II. 



The Mission of Little Children. 

The sage, and the beetle at his feet, hath each a ministration to perform : 
Search out the wisdom of nature, there is depth in all her doings ; 
A final cause for the aromatic gum, that congealeth the moss around a rose : 
A reason for each blade of grass that reareth its small spire. — Tupper. 

There is nothing insulated, nothing useless among 
all the products of the Divine Hand. Eveiy thing has 
its determined position and its use. 

"In the perfect circle of creation, not an atom could 
be spared : 

From earth's magnetic zone to the bindweed round 
a hawthorn." 

Upon all the works of God may be seen the inscrip- 
tion, " none of us liveth to himself.'' A popular writer 
of books for children, gives the following illustration 
of this sentiment. He questions the rose as it hangs 
on its frail stem in the garden. " "Why do you hang 
there, beautiful flower? " " I hang here to sweeten the 
air which man breathes, to open my beauties to kindle 
emotion in his eye, to show him the hand of God who 



136 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

pencilled every leaf, and laid it thus carefully on my 
bosom; and whether you find me here to greet him 
every morning with my opening face, or folding myself 
up under the cool curtains of evening, my end is the 
same. I live not to myself." 

And thus upon all his works is inscribed the same 
lesson — upon every atom and every world — upon 
every drop of dew that feasts an insect or refreshes a 
flower, and upon every rose that diffuses its sweetness 
through the air. 

That verse in the classic Elegy of Gray, so common 
and so universally admired, which speaks of flowers 
wasting their sweetness, &c, though beautiful as a poeti- 
cal effusion is not true. "Without losing any of its poetical 
beauty, it has been more correctly rendered thus : — 

" No humble flower is born to blush unseen, 
And waste its fragrance on the desert air ; 
Although it bloom where man has never been, 
Its Maker loves to see its beauty there." 

And if this be true of sweet flowers that scent the 
morn and wither in the sun at noon, we surely cannot 
say less of little children — those immortal buds and 
blossoms that beautify the homes of earth, and then 
fade and die. No ; that little child, though its visit be 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 137 

transient as the dew of the morning, which the warm 
sun exhales back again to the skies, lived not in vain. 
It came as an angel on a mission of love. It came as 
a messenger of mercy to the home it gladdened by its 
birth, and brightened by its ephemeral but beautiful 
life, and then left shaded and sad, as it vanished like 
a vision of beauty, or a dream of the night. 

"We propose to speak of the fifission of Little Chil- 
dren in the following aspects: — Their birth — life — 
death — memory. 

I. 

The Advent of a Little Child into the Family. 

" A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and 

love: 
A resting place for innocence on earth ; a link between angels and men; 
A delight, but redolent of care." 

Its advent is a memorable epoch in the family. It 
awakens thoughts and feelings unknown before. The 
mother is conscious of a new fountain unsealed in 
her soul, gushing with thoughts of tenderness and joy. 
There is a new sympathy with life; and new hopes 
dawn and hover over the infant cradle. And how can 
it be otherwise than that the parents, as they gaze upon 
that immortal nursling entrusted to them in all its con- 
12* 



138 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

fiding helplessness, should be conscious of new respon- 
sibilities, and feel the pulsations of an interest and a 
love unfelt before. 

We are touched with an interest in objects in some 
measure corresponding to their inherent peculiarities 
and endowments. The unfolding rosebud is an object 
of greater interest to the mind than the sparkling 
diamond; because in the former we recognize the 
mysterious functions of life secretly working on, until 
it greets the eye with its full-blown beauty. And for 
the same reason a singing-bird is an object of greater 
interest than the rarest flower ; because w r e recognize 
something more in it than vegetative life, as it goes 
warbling its music through the air, the " outgushings 
of the little creature's sweet, innocent, happy soul." 
And for similar reasons the most beautiful and artistic 
sculpture of Greece is nothing as an object of thought, 
in comparison to a poor sickly child that crawls on a 
cottage floor. 

"What, then, must be the thoughts and interest 
awakened in the minds of reflecting parents by that 
little child, whose diminutive form " belies the soul's 
immensity !" "What their thoughts of responsibility, in 
the conviction that in that little form, that beautiful 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. ISO 

casket, there is an immortal gem that shall shine when 
the sun is dim ! That in that frail and delicate form is 
enfolded the germ of an immortal mind ! That that 
scarcely perceptible spark of mind may rise to the 
dimensions of the glowing seraph, rapt in a bliss which 
all the harps of Heaven cannot express. Or if the 
radical evil of its nature should be developed, 
unrestrained by Divine grace, unchecked and uncon- 
trolled by judicious parental discipline, left to the 
inherent impulses of evil, and the seductions of sin 
from without, it may grow to be a monster of iniquity 
in this life, and a doomed spirit in the next — If the 
parents are led by the presence of that little babe to 
ponder its future possible destiny, and to reflect that 
upon them, in an eminent degree, devolves the respon- 
sible duty of giving the first impressions, the first direc- 
tion to that infant and immortal mind — That they are 
to impress on that plastic nature and ductile mind the 
image and superscription of Jesus — That on them, to 
a great degree, will depend the destiny of that child ; 
whether it shall hereafter be a saint in glory, or forever 
an outcast from Heaven : Can such awakened thoughts 
and reflections fail to exert a it oral influence upon the 
hearts of the fond parents the most solemn and salu- 



140 THE MISSION OE LITTLE CHILDREN. 

tary ? Can the mother, with all the gushing tenderness 
of a new-born joy, as her quickened thoughts go out 
from that infant cradle to roam through eternity, be 
otherwise than conscious of a responsibility she never 
felt before ? 

" I have wept 
With gladness, at the gift of this fair child ! 
My life is bound up in her. But, oh God ! 
Thou know'st how heavily my heart at times 
Bears its sweet burthen ; and if thou hast given 
To nurture such as mine, this spotless flower 
To bring it unpolluted unto thee, 
Take thou its love, I pray thee ! give it light ! 
* * * * * Leave not me 
To bring it to the gates of heaven alone ! " 

This rousing of the soul to great spiritual thoughts — 
this awakening touch of the nobler sensibilities — this 
outflow of new-born S3 7 mpathies — this consciousness of 
responsibility — this turning of the heart with its sweet 
burden to God in prayer ; — this in itself is an unspeak- 
able blessing to the parent ; and if this were all, it would 
be worthy that little angel's mission, though its visit 
should be transient as a morning dream. 

Religion sanctifies all the events and relations of life, 
and to devout and pious parents the advent of a little 
child is consecrated by holy thoughts and heavenly 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 141 

aspirations. When a new soul is added to your house- 
hold — a new rose-bud to your bosom — a bright par- 
ticular star dropped from the upper sphere and dazzling 
in your diadem, your conscious love of God will give 
the heavenly visitant the truest, the most prophetic, 
and most blessed baptismal welcome.* 

II. Sow beautiful is the mission of a little child in the 
household! It is there " like a gleam of sunshine, and 
a voice of perpetual gladness." It is there with its 
bright and innocent face and prattle, to diffuse an air 
of cheerfulness around the home-circle. It is there as 
a " well-spring of pleasure." 

The very presence of such a thing of beauty and inno- 
cence unconsciously refines and spiritualizes our nature ; 
what varied and indefinable influences emanate from a 
little child in the midst of home ! It is human nature 
fresh from the hands of God, like a flower opening in 
the dewy morning. Its pure affections — its artless 
friendship — its unclissembled sincerity — its gushes of 
joy — its nameless touches of filial endearment — its 
winning caresses when its heart begins to open to the 
meaning of a mother's smile ; such a being, such a 
beautiful impersonation of heavenly innocence and 
* Theo. Parker, 



142 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 



purity in the household, must be a source not only of 
pleasure, hut of influences softening and purifying. 
When the father comes from the dusty and jostling 
scenes of business, filled with care — his spirit soiled 
by contact with sordid and selfish intrigue, or by the 
policy and insincerity and dissembled friendship of the 
world ; when he returns from such scenes to the sanc- 
tity of home, and meets there a little child w T ith its 
sunny smile and lisping welcome, its artless sincerity 
and pure affection, he feels something of a childlike 
temper and spirit transferred into his own, something 
that soothes his fevered spirit and vexing cares, and re- 
attunes his heart to the gentler movement and harmony 
of the affections, and he feels himself a better and hap- 
pier man. "With what touching simplicity has Burns, 
in his " Cotter's Saturday Night," pictured this idea. 

" The lisping infant prattling on his knee, 
Does a* his weary carking cares beguile, 
An' makes him quite forget his labor and his toil." 

We need just such an influence to counteract the 
coarser tendencies of the cares of life, and to soften the 
asperities engendered by attrition with the world, and 
to evolve the gentle feelings and sympathies of the 
heart, and keep them fresh and youthful. It exerts an 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 143 

influence on us like that attributed by Carlyle to the 
natural strains of Burns, amidst the choir of English 
poetry. A child, by its purity and innocence, by shed- 
ding around us the mirrored sunshine of our own youth 
and simplicity, revives " the youthful freshness of human 
feeling, and keeps in harmony those delicately tuned 
chords of the human heart, which, in the trials of life, 
are so apt to lose the sweetness of their primitive me- 
lody." And this is precisely the influence of a little 
child in a family. It is there as a beautiful flower, a 
memorial of the Eden lost, and most perfect emblem 
of Eden regained. It stands still where it was placed 
by 3esus in the midst of the disciples ; and it is there 
now, as it was then, to teach us purity, faith, sincerity, 
simplicity ; recalling, by association, the words of our 
Lord, " Except ye be converted, and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of hea- 
ven." They are in our homes as the most eloquent 
little preachers, both by what they are and by what 
they recall; reminding us of the temper and disposition 
we must acquire and cherish, and the character we must 
assume, in order that we may be made meet for the 
kingdom of heaven. 

Nor should we overlook this influence of a little child 



144 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

in the family, because it steals over us and into us so 
softly and insensibly, any more than we should question 
the influence of light, because we never heard the sun 
shine. Like the light which visits us every morning 
so softly as not to disturb the sleeping infant, yet 
quickens all nature into life and beauty, so gently does 
this influence touch the very life-roots of our humanity, 
permeate our emotional nature, educing the gentler 
graces of the spirit ; an influence silent, yet vivifying 
as the glance of the sunbeam ; noiseless, yet refreshing 
as the morning dew. To estimate such an influence by 
the ordinary tests of value, would be, in the quaint 
figure of Carlyle, as absurd as to estimate the value of 
the sun by the amount of gas-light that is saved by his 
shining ; overlooking his universal diffusion of life and 
warmth, cresting the hills with beauty, and crowning 
the summer-fields with the golden harvests. 

III. But there is another aspect of that little child in 
the midst of the family, in which its mission of good 
is perhaps more obvious and tangible, though not so 
pleasing in the experience. It is there not only as an 
object of beauty and innocence, but, as it grows, it soon 
becomes the subject of discipline ; and the training of 
that little one becomes to the parent a school of faith 






THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 145 

and patience and prayer. Take tlie case of a young 
mother. Her earlier life lias been one of comparative 
exemption from care, with but little to exercise the 
virtues of faith and patient endurance. See that young 
mother as she begins the discipline of her little child ; 
as she witnesses the first ebullitions of passion, the 
flashings of anger in the scream and stamp, the mutter- 
ings of the indomitable will. But a short time before 
it was the gentle, unconscious infant in her arms ; now 
it stands before her invested with the terrific attribute 
of will, assuming a hostile attitude of rebellion, of re- 
sistance to authority. And there is nothing can meet 
such a crisis but moral firmness ; nothing can success- 
fully control and subdue that will in its first outbursts 
of passion and insubordination, but the gentleness and 
patience of piety, and the conscious strength of faith 
and prayer. And if that mother has any consciousness 
of her own weakness, and the interests involved in such 
a moment, it will be the awakening of her soul to 
serious thoughts and earnest appeals to heaven for help, 
for wisdom and grace to meet a crisis so fraught with 
the future destiny of the child. 

A personal friend, some time since related to me a 
trial of this kind in his individual experience. His 
13 



146 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

child, in a paroxysm of passion, defied parental author- 
ity ; every effort of tenderness and persuasion, and even 
severity, seemed but to exasperate the rebellion of the 
child against the will of the parent, until the father, in 
utter despair of all human expedients to reach the case, 
caught the child in his arms, fell on his knees, and 
cried to God for help. "When they rose from prayer, 
the stubborn will was broken, and the rebellious heart 
subdued, and the child was meek and gentle as a lamb. 
That parent, rising from that conflict crowned with vic- 
tory, from that prostration of his soul before God in 
prayer, was a better and happier man. So that the 
parent, in the very process of disciplining the child, was 
himself the subject of a discipline the most marked and 
salutary ; and by an obvious reflex action, the training 
of the child becomes the schooling of the parent in all 
the graces of the Spirit ; so that the child is the occa- 
sion of developing and perfecting the character of the 
parent, whilst in the process of its educational training. 
In this sense we recognize an important mission in 
little children. 

And then how often are they made more directly the 
messengers of mercy to the parents ! In how many 
instances has the utterance of religious truth, the gentle 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 147 

rebuke from the lips of childhood, touched the last 
chord of religious sensibility in a heart that has been 
inaccessible by every other means ! How often have 
the sweet breathings of prayer, or the lisping of infant 
hymns, been the sanctified means of salvation to irre- 
ligious parents ! Many an irreligious father has been 
led to the house of God by the hand of childhood, and 
manyaprayerlessmother has been directed to the Lamb 
of God by the lisping infant. Numerous well-authen- 
ticated facts might be adduced confirmative of these 
statements, but they will readily occur to the mind of 
the reader. 

A little child, as it rose from prayer, just before going 
to Sabbath School, in all the simplicity of its heart 
turned to its mother and said, "Mother, does my father 
ever pray?" This question, overheard by an infidel 
father, was an awakening word to his soul. That scene 
in a religious conference in the "West, has many a 
parallel in the Chronicles of Eternity : a father rose 
to speak, with deep emotion, and placing his hand 
upon the head of a child that sat by his side, said 
"Here is my spiritual father." Verily, "out of the 
mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected 
praise ! " 



148 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

IV. We come now to the sad but holy mission of a 
little child in its last sickness and death. The suffer- 
ings of a sick and dying child are among the most 
painful and mysterious things in providence, and yet 
the parent and the child may be happier forever for 
the dark cloud that brooded over its cradled infancy. 

The vigil of parental love beside a sick child is a 
sanctuary of religion. What a nursery of patience, 
and holy endurance, and prayer ! What an unsealing 
within us of all tenderness and sympathy ! What ever- 
varying ministrations of gentleness and love; whilst 
with every office of affection is woven some new link of 
endearment ! And when the scene grows darker, and 
that innocent little one is convulsed with pain and 
suffering, what a painful sense of the fact and evil of 
sin, is the sight of a thing so beautiful and pure 
doomed to suffer and die! And when the dreaded 
crisis draws near, and that little child, in the convulsive 
throes of dissolving nature, turns with a look that 

pleads so tenderly and thrillingly to the parents for 

• 

help, oh ! then must the parental cry go up to the 
pitying Heavens for help ; and nothing but the infinite 
and immortal can help them ! In such a moment, what 
is all of earth but vanity, and all earthly hopes but 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 149 

illusions ? and the heart turns to the everlasting Gospel 
and the ever-compassionate Saviour for something upon 
which to rest, and seeks the everlasting arms to bear 
them up. 

What a mighty spiritualizing transformation is 
wrought in the soul by a scene and an experience like 
this ! That touching picture of Luther beside the couch 
of his suffering child, has many repetitions in this world 
of sickness and death. The great Reformer, in the 
bitterness of grief, knelt in prayer beside his dying 
Margaret. As he rose in tears, he caught the falter- 
ing accents of "weep not for me," a sweet smile, 
like a transient gleam of opening Heaven, resting upon 
her pale face, and she said, "I go to my Father in 
Heaven ;" and the sweet words of hope awakened 
the response from the father's sorrowing heart — The 
will of the Lord be done ! Yes, she has gone to her 
Father in Heaven ! Luther was a better, a holier man 
after that discipline of sorrow beside his sick and 
dying child. Margaret finished her mission of love to 
the great Reformer, and returned to Heaven. 

How often does the last scene of sickness seem to 
canonize the beautiful religion of childhood for ever- 
lasting remembrance ! The touching decay, the fading 
13* 



150 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

from life, seems like an investment of immortal beauty. 
That smile, so sweet and holy, on the placid brow — 
that spiritual brightness of the eye — that meek and 
unmurmuring submission — those lispings of remem- 
bered hymns about Jesus and Heaven — those little 
hands lifted in prayer, that seem almost to open to our 
view the doors of eternity — and that final trust in Jesus 
and hope of Heaven breathed from the lips of a dying 
child — ! there is nothing on earth can awaken within 
us such a sense of the Divine beauty and preciousness 
of our holy religion, and touch our hearts with such a 
glow of a Saviour's love. And we bless God for such 
a mission of angelic goodness. 

And beside all this, what eloquent and saving 
messages and appeals have been made by dying chil- 
dren to the sorrowing parents. Appeals which by 
Divine grace have been made the power of God unto 
salvation. Arvine records the instance of an infidel 
standing by the bedside of his dying child. Little 
James looked up and said in all the simplicity of his 
heart, " Father, I am very happy, I am going to 
Heaven ; will you meet me there, father t" That touch- 
ing appeal, under the Divine blessing, was instrumental 
in his subsequent conversion ; and the father lived to 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 151 

cherish, the hope of meeting his child in Heaven. The 
same author records a similar instance of a little child, 
with its simple and childlike conceptions of the future, 
saying to au impenitent father, " Father, I am going to 
see Jesus ; what shall I tell him is the reason you won't 
love him?" and then expired. It proved a word in 
season, and was blessed to the salvation of the parent. 
But we need not multiply instances. These little 
missionaries have not preached in vain ; they have not 
lived in vain. Many a little child will have seals in 
Heaven of its angelic mission on earth. 

V. Allow me to speak more particularly of the mis- 
sion of a little child by its death and memory ; and this 
we think can be done without any material iteration of 
what has already been said. 

" Oar God, to call us homeward, 
His only Son sent down, 
And now, still more to tempt our hearts, 
Has taken up our own." 

There is no earthly relation so tender, so affectionate, 
as that subsisting between the parent and the child. It 
awakens the deepest and strongest affections of our 
nature ; and when that child dies, it touches the deepest 
springs of sorrow in the soul. " What then ? Do our 



152 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

affections sink back into our hearts — become absorbed 
and forgotten ? ! no ; they reach out after that little 
one ; they follow him into the unseen and spiritual 
world. 11 

And is there not often need of just such an awaken- 
ing sorrow ? Some minds are so encased with worldli- 
ness, that nothing but this concussion of the heart will 
break the earthly mould that incrusts the soul; so 
wrapped in spiritual stupor, that nothing but this rend- 
ing of the sensibilities will rouse it to any degree of 
religious consciousness ; so blinded by the god of this 
world, that nothing but a dying infant's hand can rend 
the veil, and let in some light from the unseen spiritual 
world. It is when the treasure which lies nearest to 
the heart is taken away, that the illusions of sense are 
dissolved, and the earth-spell is broken ; and there is a 
momentary consciousness, like a sudden flash from the 
unseen world, revealing at once the vanity of this world 
and the reality of the next ; darkening earth and open- 
ing heaven. It is a dark but blessed sorrow. "Night 
brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths : 

We never see the stars 

Till we can see nought but them." 

And so, when affliction such as this darkens the 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDKEN. 153 

earth, it brings out to view bright things above us. 
Heaven becomes a vivid, subjective reality. Our hearts 
are detached from the seen and temporal, and aspire to 
the unseen and eternal. And if that little child came 
but to smile and die, to win our hearts " with that in- 
fant look and angel smile," and then, vanishing from 
earth, bearing our thoughts and our hearts with it to 
the brighter skies, it has performed a mission by its 
early death worthy of its coming. 

The shepherd gathering his flock at night, takes the 
little lamb in his arms, and bears it to the fold, sure 
that the mother will follow. So Christ, the Good Shep- 
herd, takes the little child, and folds it to his bosom in 
glory ; and thus, by the bright and yearning chain of 
love, draws the parent to the child. And many a parent 
has found in the experience of this sad bereavement, 
" that the tie which seemed to be dropped and broken, 
God has taken up to draw them closer to him;" and 
conscious of the gracious designs of Providence, has 
yielded to the sweet attraction, exclaiming, 

" draw me to my child ! 



And link us close, God ! when near to Heaven." 

But the mission of a little child, fading like a tender 
plant, ceases not at death. It has left an influence 



154 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

more abiding than the shadow of its evanescent life. 
The sorrow felt at its departure was not as a flitting 
cloud or falling shower, here, and then gone and for- 
gotten. It is rather as the smiting of the rock, whose 
streams follow us through the wilderness. "Now no 
chastening," says the Apostle, " for the present seemeth 
to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, afterward it 
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them 
which are exercised thereby." Heb. xii. 11. 

The immediate effect of the bereavement was salu- 
tary, but afterwards there is a silent mellowing influ- 
ence upon our character through life. It is the remem- 
brance of that child — its innocent life — its numberless 
endearments — its last look — its smile, beautiful in death, 
as a the signet-ring of heaven ;" these remembrances 
" surround us with a softening atmosphere, and the 
light they shed down on us is the light of sunset, 
mellowed and shaded in its passage through the clouds 
of evening." And from the heart, softened and chas- 
tened by these sacred and undying memories, there 
grow ever afterwards the graces of the spirit; and 
"holy aspirations, like mosses and flowers amid the 
crumbling of ancient structures, grow greenly through 
and over the rents of life's ruins." 



THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 155 

It is thus the child being dead yet speaketh. The 
image of its beautiful and innocent life becomes a 
sacred and sanctifying memory. So it was with Luther, 
after the death of little Margaret. "Writing to his friend 
Justus Jonas, he says, " On my very soul are engraved 
the looks — the words — the gestures during her life 
and on the bed of death of my obedient, my loving 
child ! " And it was to him a benedictive and sancti- 
fying memory ; and it is so to every Christian parent. 
And is it not well for us to have our homes sanctified 
by the memory of the departed, and the glare of the 
world around us softly veiled over by the shadow of 
death ; a shadow which has healing in it for the soul, 
as that of Peter for the body ? It gives a tinge of sad- 
ness to life — beautiful, but passing away, and a chas- 
tened hue to our own life, hopeful and happy, but 
thoughtful of death. 

The memory of a little child, once as a gleam of 
sunshine in our home, and now ensphered in heaven, 
as a star to shine onward and onward through the 
depths of the everlasting ages, is to the parents a foun- 
tain of blessed and saving thoughts. 

Its beauteous image is enshrined in the heart forever; 
its memory is still around us — its sweet voice is still 



156 THE MISSION OF LITTLE CHILDREN. 

echoing in our ears like distant music, and it still 
speaks to us in moments of quiet thought — in the cold 
shadow of memory — in the bright light of hope. 

And if "a thing of beauty is a joy forever/' then 
that little one will be to us a joy forevermore, for it 
will always live in our memory as a child. The chil- 
dren left to us here, grow old and lose that indefinable 
beauty and charm of childhood ; but the one in heaven 
is a perennial child. Years may pass away, and all 
around us may change, but that one is still to us as at 
first, a bright and happy child. 

" We fold it in our arms again, we see it by our side 
In the helplessness of innocence, which sin has never tried." 

And is not such a memory as an angel-presence ? is 
there not something soothing, spiritualizing, sanctifying 
in such a memory ? is it not around us as a guardian 
angel, or as a glorified spirit ? does it not speak to us 
from its bright and happy home, saying, "Weep not over 
the faded and fading hopes of earth — bear meekly the 
allotted cares and sorrows of life ! Look up and come — 
come to this bright and heavenly home ! 

And shall we not go? Do not our hearts catch a 
heavenward aspiration, sweetly urging us upward and 
homeward? 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 157 

"Thou — thou in heaven, and I on earth — 
May this one hope delight us, 
That thou wilt hail my second birth 
When death shall re-unite us." 

Blessed ! living or dying, is the mission of a little 
child! 



III. 
Little Children in Heaven. 

" They are all there in heaven, 
Safe, safe, and sweetly blessed, 
No cloud of sin can shadow 
Their bright and holy rest." 

This subject, we conceive, is of sufficient novelty and 
interest to occupy a distinct place, and is deserving of 
something more than the cursory view in the close of 
the preceding section. 

Assuming here the doctrine of infant salvation, what 
a bright and lovely phase does it give to the triumphs 
of redeeming grace in our world of sin ! "What vast 
and beautiful trophies of the cross are gathered from 
all climes and generations ! What glimpses, what 
transporting visions of the heavenly home ! 

According to the usual and accredited estimate, one- 
half of our race die in childhood, and of this half, the 
14 



158 LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

greater proportion in early infancy. This fact, though 
sad and tearful in the individual experience of the be- 
reaved, is, when viewed objectively, a grand fact, all- 
lustrous with the grace and glory of the Redemption. 

Of that vast multitude whom John saw before the 
Lamb from all nations and tongues, waving their palms 
and shouting "Salvation to our God," the great pro- 
portion were children. A proportion, says John New- 
ton, so greatly exceeding the aggregate of adult be- 
lievers, that, comparatively speaking, his kingdom may 
be said to consist of little children. 

And, since that vision of John, we have reason to 
believe there has been the same ratio of accession to 
the redeemed host of heaven, from our sinful race on 
earth. During the eighteen intervening centuries since, 
the vast majority of those that have gone up to the gate 
of heaven have been infant members. Indeed there 
has been almost from the gate of Eden, a long conti- 
nuous line of procession of infant souls from among 
all nations going up to Mount Zion. And that ladder 
of the patriarch, with the angels of God ascending and 
descending, is a perpetual fact, though there be no 
dreaming Jacob to see it; angels descending unceas- 
ingly to minister to the infant heirs of salvation, and 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 159 

then ascending, bearing in tlieir homeward flight the 
innocent babes to Abraham's bosom. 

There is something in this fact both illustrative of 
the riches of divine grace and inspiriting to the Chris- 
tian mind, contemplating the achievements of redemp- 
tion in our world. There is much in the spiritual aspect 
of our world that to the eye of sense is sad and depress- 
ing. Over millions of our race there yet hangs the 
starless night of paganism ; there are millions who 
have never heard the name of Jesus ; thousands in 
Christian lands, who seem wholly indifferent to the 
claims of the Gospel ; so that the faithful minister is 
often led to exclaim, with a feeling of despondency, 
" Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the 
arm of the Lord revealed?" 

But the feelings of depression occasioned by this 
aspect of the moral world are relieved by the exhilarat- 
ing fact that millions of infant souls are gathered as 
the trophies of redeeming love from among all people. 
And the Saviour's cross, like Aaron's rod, has budded 
and blossomed with these infant souls, saved by grace. 
Even in lands shrouded in moral gloom, and in Chris- 
tian lands where iniquity still abounds, and compara- 
tively few seem to heed the Gospel; even in these 



160 LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

lands, and among all kindreds and people, " Christ sees 
the travail of his soul and is satisfied." 

In the dark picture of this world of sin, that lovely 
posture of the Saviour in the Gospel welcoming the 
little ones to his arms, still stands out to my view, all 
the more bright and beautiful from the dark background 
of the picture. And it is a soul-cheering fact, that from 
every age and clime the Great Shepherd has been ga- 
thering these lambs of the flock to the Paradise re- 
gained — 

" In the immortal bowers, 
Dwelling by life's clear rivers, 
Amid undying flowers." 

And we may presume that the Saviour, as a man of 
sorrows, was cheered by this interesting feature of 
success in his redemptive work; and this was undoubt- 
edly an important constituent of that joy in view of 
which he "endured the cross, despising the shame" — 
the joy of bringing many sons unto glory. He must 
have been conscious, that of all the souls that would 
be redeemed by his blood, the vast majority would be 
children ; and hence the very sight of these little ones 
would affcctingly remind him of his home in heaven, 

where 

" Millions of infant souls compose 

The family above." 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 161 

It is to that family of infant souls we now turn our 
thoughts, as directed by our theme of 

LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

It is a theme, it is true, that is dim with mystery ; 
and yet one upon which our thoughts love to linger ; 
for many of us have children in that family, whom it 
is a joy as well as a sorrow to remember, and with whom 
our hearts still love to commune, in the sad reverie of 
contemplation, the sweet visions of faith, or the bright 
light of hope. 

If it were revealed that in some particular star in 
the sky was the home of the blessed, how would we 
love to watch its gentle radiance in the grey twilight 
of evening, and sometimes to lift the telescope to 
brighten to our vision that beaming star, to our affec- 
tions the fairest of all the heavenly train. % But, though 
the world in which some of our loved ones dwell is not 
visible to the naked eye, even in the dim and distant 
Heavens, it is no less real to the inward perceptions 
and intuitions of the soul, and to that religious faith 
which Paul tells us is "the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen." Just as we 

believe in the material world around us, because we 
14* 



162 LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

have senses and not because some one attempts logically 
to prove it, so we believe in the world above by the 
spiritual intuitions of the soul, and the inner percep- 
tions of faith. Its proof is not the reasoning of Butler 
or any other man. Not even "the letter" of any 
Scriptural text. Its faith, its Christian faith, is all 
the argument it needs. "Faith itself," as declared by 
the Apostle, " is the basis of things hoped for, the evi- 
dence of things not seen." And hence that heavenly 
world is as real to my spiritual intuitions, to my Chris- 
tian faith, as the world around me is to my senses. 

It is to that beautiful phase of Heaven as the 
home of little children, that we now direct our medita- 
tions. 

I. Our first thought is of their arrival there. And 
what a glow of pleasure spreads over the face of 
Heaven, the joyous welcome of the infant pilgrim ! 
What ecstatic greetings from the angels of the infant 
spirit saved by grace, coming as it does from a world 
of sin, coming, as in some instances, from an irreligious 
home, a wicked father, and a prayerless mother! 
Conscious as the angels may be of the perils that 
encompassed that budding spirit here, surrounded by 
an atmosphere of sin, embosomed in a family infectious 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 163 

of evil, where its unfolding mind would contract defile- 
ment, and its final salvation be imperiled — how must 
such a child be received, rescued from such a world — 
from such a prayerless home — where its spiritual 
destiny hung in such perilous suspense — "plucked as 
a brand out of the fire," — with what gratulations will 
all the angels welcome its arrival at the gate of Heaven ! 
and gathering around the early-saved, gaze with 
admiring wonder and fresh ecstacy of joy upon this new 
apocalypse of redeeming grace, and this new disclosure 
of the Saviour's glory. If there is joy in the presence 
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, O 
what a sweet wonder and joy must fill all Heavenly 
minds over every babe received into glory ! 

H. And then what a pleasing object of thought is 
the child in Heaven ! If we strive in vain to fancy the 
glory which surrounds a saint when first greeted with 
the visions of the celestial world, how impossible to 
conceive the beauty and felicity of a babe in glory ! 
Its first lisp of language is the name of Jesus ; its first 
conscious exercise of belief, faith in his atoning blood, 
and the first and simplest feelings and emotions 
which its heart beats, intelligent and self-conscious, are 
of gratitude and love to him. And the first song in 



164 LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

which their joy finds utterance must be the anthem, 

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. " 

What an object of interest is that child to the angels 

of God ! and with what a halo of spiritual beauty and 

glory does it rise in the sweet visions of faith in the 

serene imaginings of the parent's heart — My little child 

in Heaven ! one of the youngest and sweetest choristers 

in the heavenly choir ; or perhaps sitting among the 

angels, cherubim and seraphim, as the youthful Saviour 

once sat among the doctors in the temple, hearing and 

asking questions. It is a vision that must charm away 

all tears from sorrowing eyes, and hush all notes of 

grief, or turn them into gushing strains of joy and 

praise ! 

" Thy feeble feet, unsteady, 
That tottered as they trod, 
With angels walk the heavenly streets, 
Or stand before their God. 

Thy little hand, so helpless, 

That scarce its toys could hold, 
Now clasps its mate in holy prayer, 

Or strikes a harp of gold. 

Thine eyes, so curbed in vision, 

Now range the realms of space, 
Look down upon the rolling stars, 

Look up — in God's own face." 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 165 

3. Apart from any personal affinity, there is some- 
thing attractive in this feature of the heavenly world. 
The admixture of those innocent nurslings in the so- 
ciety of heaven gives an inexpressible charm to our 
Father's house. There is something homelike in their 
buoyant steps and gladsome voices, ringing through the 
many mansions. Like morning and springtime with 
its flowers and singing-birds to the earth, they give 
freshness and beauty and a sort of spring-charm to the 
heavenly paradise. 

And if we bear with us our sanctified earthly affec- 
tions and sympathies to the spiritual world, the min- 
gling of millions of redeemed children, with the scenes 
and associations, the service and praises of that world 
must give a morning freshness and a summer beauty 
an indefinable charm to the heavenly home. 

And if the Saviour loved little children on earth, 
will he regard them with less tenderness in heaven ? 
"Will not the host of redeemed children be inexpressibly 
dear to Him, who washed them in his blood, and made 
them meet for heaven ? They must ever be to Him, as 
well as to angels, the most beautiful monuments of his 
grace in heaven. It may be they are permitted to 
occupy the inner circle of the redeemed around the 



166 LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

throne. " The smallest planet is nearest the sun. Ye 
stand nearest to God, ye little ones." And there, 
nearest the Lamb, they cast their little crowns, and 
warble the music of their praise in strains sweeter than 
angels use, singing, "Not by works of righteousness 
which we had done, but of his mercy he saved us by 
the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour." 

That chant of redeeming love by children may be 
the sweetest of all the music of heaven ; those infant 
strains the grandest of all the choral symphonies of the 
skies. " Perhaps, indeed, it is this very thing of which 
the Psalmist caught a view, by inspiration, when he 
exclaimed, ' Lord, thou hast set thy glory above the 
heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings 
thou hast perfected praise ! ' JSTo literal interpretation 
can be given to that passage in any other way. But if 
you translate it of the infant singers in heaven, it is a 
very natural window opened into the glories of the 
celestial world." 

IV". And finally ; — "What an interesting subject of 
study and observation must these children be to the older 
inhabitants of heaven ! To see the unfolding of the 



LITTLE CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 167 

infant mind, and the evolution of the affections in 
heaven; — to see the ecstatic bewilderment of joy — and 
mysterious sense of the grandeur and glory of the celes- 
tial world, as they dawn and break in upon their opening 
senses. Indeed every spirit, upon its first introduction 
into heaven, is, in some sense, like a child, amid those 
new and wondrous scenes; and so was every new- 
born angel ; they can never forget their first impres- 
sions, as the glories of heaven burst upon their enrap- 
tured souls, and this will give them a peculiar 
sympathy with the little children there. 

Dr. Adams mentions the statuary of " the chanting 
cherubs," with some anonymous lines, representing the 
conversation of a child with its guardian angel, on its 
way from earth to heaven ; in which the child says, as 
it draws near the light which no man can see and live, 

"01 cannot bear this glory ; 
Sister Spirit, how canst thou ? ,; 

The angel answers, — 

" I will tell thee all my story ! 
I was once as thou art now."- 

This idea is developed and expressed so beautifully 
by Dr. Cheever, that we prefer giving it to you in his 
own language, to any further remarks of our own. 

He says, " for aught we know, there may be a form 



168 LITTLE CHILDKEN IN HEAVEN. 

of glory, or degrees and qualities of glory, resulting 

from such a development in heaven, transcending all 

other manifestations of the manifold wisdom of God 

through the church to all ages. 

And as we have reason to believe that so vast a 

preponderating multitude of those transmitted from 

our world to heaven die in infancy and childhood, so 

the greater part of heaven is filled with just such scenes, 

and heaven might be conceived as one vast ecstatic 

holy school of youthful happy spirits. What curious, 

wondrous, blissful forms of the wisdom and love of the 

Creator, combined with the perfection of the work of 

our Divine Redeemer, may be seen in the evolution of 

the infant immortal spirit, from the very bud of being 

— w T ho shall tell ? . . . . Oh certainly to see the growth 

of a mind in heaven, to watch its developings in Christ, 

above the brightness of the firmament, must be a 

process of glory so exquisite, that nothing which we 

now see in the grandeur- and beauty of all this material 

universe can bear any proportion to its loveliness. " 

" An infant's soul — the sweetest thing of earth, 
To which endowments beautiful are given 

As might befit a more than mortal birth, 
What shall it be, when 'midst its winning mirth 

And love, and truthfulness, 'tis borne to heaven ? 



RECOGNITION. 169 

Will it grow into might above the skies ? — 
A spirit of high wisdom, glory, power, — 

A cherub guard of the Eternal Tower, 
With knowledge filled of its vast mysteries ? 

Or will perpetual childhood be its dower? 
To sport forever, a bright, joyous thing, 

Amid the wonders of the shining thrones, 
Yielding its praise in glad but feeble tones, 

A tender dove beneath the Almighty's wing." 



IV. 

Recognition. 

" The kindred tie that bound us here, 
Though rent apart with many a tear, 
Shall be renewed in Heaven ! " — Huie. 

The hope of the future recognition of departed friends 
is one of the most cherished of the human heart. It 
seems to be the universal sentiment of mankind. In 
every age, and among every people, untutored or 
refined, it exists, though in some instances in the mystic 
forms of superstition, as one of the primitive and 
indestructible instincts of our moral nature; It is 
whispered in the farewell of the dying, " meet me in 
Heaven;" and the smile that is sometimes seen to 
linger so sweetly on the cold brow of infancy in its last 
15 



170 RECOGNITION. 

sleep, seems like a parting hope and pledge of re- 
union. 

"Where worlds no more can sever 

Parent and child forever/' 

This sentiment, breathed in our devotions, vocalized 
in some of our sweetest music, and inscribed upon the 
tombs of the departed, cannot be a mere illusion of 
the fancy. This intuition of the heart, this promise of 
"the elder Scripture," cannot be the "herald of a lie." 
ISTo ; this pleasing hope is a presentiment of the recog- 
nition of our friends in that nightless land. 

It is easy to conceive difficulties in the admission of 
this cherished doctrine. It is objected, that in the dis- 
embodied state there will be none of the present media 
of recognition ; but this objection is wholly negative 
and gratuitous. ISTo one will presume to assert that 
there may not be other than mere physical media of 
recognition ; for no one is sufficiently acquainted with 
the mysterious functions of mind to affirm that the 
soul cannot recognize its kindred soul by intuition ; or 
that there may not exist a purely spiritual recognition 
independently of all material agency. There must be 
among pure spirits some mode of recognition and inter- 
communion, of which we at present can form no con- 



RECOGNITION. 171 

ception. There is, at least, no inherent absurdity in 
the case that should lead any one to pronounce this 
pleasing hope of the heart a dream or delusion, even 
prior to its confirmation by the inspired "Word. 

After the resurrection, the assumed difficulties, to 
which allusion has just been made, cannot exist. Then 
the spirit will be reinvested with a body, which, how- 
ever refined and spiritualized, will still be a body, 
according to Paul, a " spiritual body." Now we know 
that the artist can transfer to the canvass, or engrave 
on steel, a likeness so accurately and distinctly marked 
as to be recognized by a friend anywhere, and after 
the lapse of many years. And the daguerrean process 
of taking sun-pictures is a still more striking illustra- 
tion of the rationale of this recognition. 

The image traced by the solar beam is so true and 
striking, that a casual glance is sufficient for recogni- 
tion. And yet it is so ethereal, that it might almost be 
called a spiritual image. We can hardly conceive that 
the difference between our present gross material 
bodies and our future spiritual bodies will be greater 
than that between our living faces and the shades of 
light upon the metallic plate. So that however 
changed, refined, and celestialized our forms and 



172 RECOGNITION. 

features may be after the resurrection, it may be as 
easy to recognize our friends in heaven, as for the 
parent to see in a sun-picture the image of a long-lost 
child. And just as readily as a parent's eye would 
detect at a glance the picture of a child among a 
thousand other pictures, may the intuitive perceptions 
of love recognize those that have been dear on earth, 
though Heaven be full of spiritual daguerreotypes. 
And the mother by a feeling may know her child 

" By a thrill like that, which, when first he smiled, 
Came o'er her soul." 

The objection that the absence of some loved one 

w T ould mar the felicity of heaven, is purely speculative, 

and unworthy of seiious consideration. We know, 

that there the soul will be brought into such perfect 

sympathy and unison with the will, purposes, and 

glory of God, that no fact can disturb the perfect peace, 

or cast a momentary shadow over the bright and happy 

spirit. And we dismiss this whole difficulty, which 

some have conceived in the admission of this doctrine, 

with the somewhat fanciful and original thoughts of 

"William Anderson of Glasgow: — "Many a mother 

will not find her son in heaven, and yet the Saviour 

will make her perfectly happy; there can be no grief 



RECOGNITION. 173 

in the Paradise of God, not even for a perished son. 
Christ will bring her some other woman's child, who 
has been seeking for his mother in vain, and he will say, 
1 Woman, behold thy son,' and to him, ' Behold thy 
mother,' and the wounds of the hearts of both will be 
healed." 

Whatever speculative difficulties may be associated 
with this doctrine, they can never extinguish this 
indigenous hope of the human heart. Can we suppose 
that this pleasing anticipation, which sweetens the cup 
of sorrow — this sweet hope, which throws over the 
dark hour of bereavement the beauteous bow of 
peace and promise, are mere illusions of the fancy? 
Never ; it is no mirage of the desert, to cheat the eye 
and mock the heart of the weary and sorrowing pilgrim. 
It is the intuition of the heart — the pleasing presenti- 
ment of the soul, as the earnest and evidence of the 
anticipated reunion ; an intimation from the God of 
nature, that it is no delusive fancy, but a blessed reality. 

And we find these pre-intimations of our moral 
nature sustained by the suggestions and positive teach- 
ings of the Divine Word. 

The frequent allusions of the Saviour to the future, 
involve the pleasing intimation, that the affiliations 
15* 



174 RECOGNITION. 

and home affections of earth will be renewed in the 
perfect, social, and spiritual affinities of heaven. These 
allusions are verified by a more positive affirmation of 
the doctrine, in other portions of the inspired word. 
We will select a few passages, without reference to the 
chronological order in which they occur in the Bible, 
together with our practical illustration of the doctrine. 

I. The Apostle Paul, in his first epistle to the Thes- 
salonians, (1 Thes. ii. 19,) says, "For what is our hope, 
or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the 
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming ?" 
This animating language obviously implies the mutual 
recognition of the minister and his people. The 
judicious Macknight makes the following comment 
on this verse. " The manner in which the Apostle 
speaks of the Thessalonians in this passage shows that 
he expected to know his converts at the day of judg- 
ment. If so, we may hope to know our relations and 
friends there. " 

II. We have, in 1 Thes. iv. 13-18, these consolatory 
words: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, 
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye 
sorrow not even as others which have no hope ; for if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so 



RECOGNITION. 1T5 

them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with 
him. For this we say unto you by the word of the 
Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the 
coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are 
asleep ; for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven 
with a shout, "with the voice of the arch-angel, and 
with the trump of God ; and the dead in Christ shall 
rise first ; when we which are alive and remain shall 
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we even be with 
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with 
these words." 

Dr. Gumming gives the following beautiful and com- 
forting view of this passage : — 

" The subject on which comfort is here required is 
the death or removal of beloved friends and relatives. 
The consolation specially announced is not the resur- 
rection, but the reunion of departed friends, and the 
restoration of suspended or interrupted intercourse. 
The Apostle proceeds upon the supposition that the 
resurrection is an admitted fact, and shows that there 
will be superadded to that resurrection this special con- 
solation, viz., the recognition of our risen relatives and 
friends. Were some beloved relative, or child, or 



176 RECOGNITION. 

parent, about to depart to a distant land, would it be 
sufficient comfort to tell you, that you also would be 
carried there in due time, but to a different part of that 
beautiful land ; so that while you would be aware that 
your beloved ones were on its face, yet you could nei- 
ther see nor hold communion with them ? This would 
be dispersion, not gathering together. There would be 
no comfort in this. The real comfort would be the 
prospect of reunion ; and the summons not to sorrow, 
and the promise that you would be taken there, would 
all imply the restoration of the fellowship and the re- 
cognition of the persons of those you loved below." 

III. The words of Jesus, addressed to Martha in the 
hour of bereavement, are equally explicit upon this 
subject. " Thy brother shall live again" — thy brother ! 
If this was intended merely to assert the fact of a re- 
surrection, it did not meet the stricken heart of Martha, 
for of this she was already conscious ; and even if she 
had not been, there was nothing in the mere promise 
of future existence to impart comfort to sorrowing 
friendship. It would be something to personal expec- 
tation, but nothing to bereaved affection. There was 
something more than the assertion of a future resur- 
rection and a future life — "Thy brother shall rise 



RECOGNITION. 177 

again!" — Thy brother! "Not some undefined spiri- 
tuality, not some new and strange being shall go forth 
beyond the mortal bourne ; but life— life in its charac- 
ter, its affections, its spiritual identity, such as it is 
here ; thy brother shall rise again. He is not lost to 
thee ; he shall not be so spiritually changed as to be 
forever lost to thee ; on some other shore, as if he had 
only gone to another hemisphere, instead of another 
world ; on some other shore thou shalt find him again — 
find thy brother. Thus much must have been taught, 
or there had been no pertinency, no comfort in the 
teaching."* 

This strikes us as the true and natural import of 
those words of Jesus, to a sister's wounded affection. 
He shall live again to you — a brother recognized and 
known. Weep not as though 3^011 should never see him 
again ; as though you should never know him in all the 
endearment of his brotherly affection ; for he shall be 
to you again in all the fraternal affinity which, in its 
suspension now, makes you so sad and tearful. This 
assurance would soothe the heart of Martha ; and the 
same consolatory assurance is given to all bereaved 
Christians who mourn departed kindred and friends 
* Dewey, Discourses on Human Life. 



173 RECOGNITION. 

in Jesus — they are not dead — they yet live in a better 
world — 



- " hid from our mortal eyes 



By that bright day, which ends not ; as the sun 
His robe of light flings round the glittering stars." 

And there you shall see them and know them again, 
in the sweet and unending affiliations of heaven. 

IV. "We have in David's bereavement, recorded in 
2 Sam. xii. 22-23, a positive recognition of this doc- 
trine. " And he said, While the child w x as yet alive, I 
fasted and wept ; for I said, "Who can tell wdiether God 
will be gracious to me, that the child may live ? But 
now he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring 
him back again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not 
return to me." 

The removal of that child was to David a bitter 
sorrow, a painful bereavement, and yet he is calm and 
peaceful ; and he lets us know the source of his com- 
fort, and the hope which, like an inspiration, flashed 
from earth to heaven, illumining his midnight sorrow. 
It was the conviction that his babe was in heaven, and 
the thought of meeting it there. Nor was it a mere 
fancy, the fond anticipation that spontaneously rises in 
the sorrowing heart, vague and undefined. There was 



RECOGNITION. 179 

something clear, defined, and personal, in the hope 
expressed, "I shall go to him!" not merely to hea- 
ven, but to Mm; I shall recognize that loved one in 
glory. 

Nor does his confidence falter in view of the time 
that might elapse before he should be called to realize 
the anticipated reunion. It was nearly twenty years 
from the time this little child was borne from its infant 
cradle to Abraham's bosom, to the period of David's 
appearance in the celestial world. Twenty years the 
child would have been in heaven with Moses and Elias 
in glory, a lamb in the fold of Christ there, before his 
earthly parent would again see him ; and could he be 
expected to know, in the bright form of a seraph, edu- 
cated for twenty years in the presence and likeness of 
Jesus, his own departed babe ? Why not, as well as 
Elijah, when translated to heaven, could be expected 
to know Moses, who had been dwelling in heaven five 
hundred years before Elijah went hither ? There would 
be no more of mystery in the one recognition than in 
the other, but an equal delight and glory. That a 
Christian parent should recognize a child passed into 
the skies, and educated there, is no more mysterious 
than that Moses and Elijah should recognize each other, 



180 BECOGNITION. 

or rather know each other, though they never met on 
earth, but only in heaven." * 

From those references, it is evident that the hope of 
the future recognition of our friends in heaven is con- 
firmed by the frequent allusions, as well as positive 
affirmations of the Divine Word. 

And we may add, that the most devout and eminent 
students of the Bible have so interpreted the instincts 
and presentiments of our moral nature and the teach- 
ings of Scripture, as to receive this cherished doctrine 
among their fondest hopes of the future. 

Baxter, speaking of his pious friends that had died 
in the Lord, expresses the firm persuasion of meeting 
them in heaven, and realizing there the perfection of 
that kindred affection that was begun on earth, but in- 
terrupted by death. 

Dr. Chalmers, speaking of the death of a little child, 
says : " The blossom which withered here upon its 
stalk has been transplanted there to a place of endu- 
rance ; and it will then gladden that eye which now 
weeps out the agony of an affection that has been 
sorely wounded." 



* Dr. Cheever — Powers of the World to Come. 



RECOGNITION. 181 

Edwards said : " The father shall know that such a 
one was his child ; and so all other relations of persons 
shall be renewed and known in heaven. " 

And Dr. dimming, speaking upon this subject, ex- 
presses his conviction of this precious hope in his own 
peculiar and beautiful language: "Are we not told 
that death shall be destroyed ? But if those bonds 
which were broken at death are not restored again in 
the realms of life, death is not annihilated ; one of its 
deepest wounds survives ; its heaviest blow is felt 
throughout the successive cycles of a futurity to come. 
But this cannot be* I look on the future as the resto- 
ration of scattered families, of suspended friendships, 
of broken circles ; the reanimation of departed images ; 
the apocalypse of faces we gazed upon below." 

This sentiment is, therefore, no illusive hope of the 
sorrowing, but a blessed truth, inscribed by the finger 
of God upon the human heart — the "elder Scriptures" 
reaffirmed in the inspired Word, and echoed in the 
convictions of the wise and good in all ages. And 
what a hope is this of reunion and recognition of the 
loved and lost in the heavenly world, to cheer and sus- 
tain the bereaved and sorrowing ! 

From the gate of Eden — from that first gush of 
16 



182 RECOGNITION. 

parental sorrow over the murdered form of Abel, the 
first victim of death — what a continuous procession of 
mourners, headed by the first human parents — one 
long uninterrupted funeral procession, reaching down 
through all generations ! "What Rachels, weeping for 
their children because they are not ! "What rending of 
domestic ties and social affinities ! "What dispersion of 
family groups! Bitter, indeed, have been the farewells 
spoken in this world of the dying and the dead ! But, 
blessed be God, the friends of Jesus, parted by death, 
shall meet again. 

" A few short years of evil past, 
We reach the happy shore, 
Where death-divided friends at last 
Shall meet to part no more !" 

This should more than reconcile Christian parents to 
the death of their children. It should impart the ele- 
ment of joy into their cup of sorrow. The separation 
will be brief; and happy will be the home-greetings at 
the threshold of their Father's house. 

The hope of such a recognition of your little ones in 
the many mansions, should make you feel as old Jacob 
did when they told him " Joseph is yet alive, and is 
governor over all Egypt." Your Joseph, whom they 






RECOGNITION. J 83 

hurried out of your sight, is yet alive, and sees the 
King in his beauty ; " he thinks of you ; and perhaps 
inquires for you of those who come to Heaven, as 
Joseph did concerning his father." This thought 
should lead you, like the patriarch, to exclaim, " It is 
enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alive ; I will go and 
see him, not before, but when I die." And that touch- 
ing scene where Jacob met his long-lost son, who " fell 
on his neck and wept," and the ecstatic father ex- 
claimed, " Now let me die, since I have seen thy face," 
that affecting scene is but a faint prefiguration of the 
meeting above, where parents shall fold their long-lost 
children, then youthful seraphs, to their throbbing 
hearts, with the ecstatic consciousness that they shall 
never part again. 

0, the joy of this reunion of the loved and lost — 
the sweet rapture of meeting in the home-gatherings 
of our Father's house ! It was blessed to meet in the 
night, though chill and dark ; it was happy to meet on 
earth, and in homes shaded with sin and sorrow. 
"What must it be to meet in the presence of God, the 
heavenly home where sin can never disturb our peace, 
or sorrow mingle with our joys! 

" And fears of parting chill — 
Never, no, never!" 



184 RECOGNITION. 

Let us catch the inspiration of this hope, and lift our 
hearts to that blissful home, and forget the parting 
sorrow in the animating prospect of reunion with our 
loved ones in our Father's house, the old Homestead of 
eternity, "where there is fullness of joy and pleasures 
forever more." 

" happy world ! glorious place ! 

Where all who are forgiven 
Shall find their loved and lost below, 
And hearts like meeting streams shall flow 

Forever one in Heaven." 



We close with this sweet version of Heaven : — The 
"Holy Child Jesus" enthroned in glory, environed 
with myriads of redeemed and glorified children, 
chanting their hallelujahs to the Lamb that was slain. 
Some of us have little ones among those " white-robed 
choristers " that encircle the throne, and unceasingly 
warble the music of their praise. And from their 
bright homes they speak to us ; softly steals upon our 
hearts their call: " Come up hither! come to this 
bright and happy land ! Come, and bring the children 
home with you when you come !" 



RECOGNITION. 185 

And shall we not go ? God granting us grace, we 
will. And bearing with, us, in Christian nurture, and 
faith, and prayer, the children still confided to our care, 
hope to appear before Christ with the joyous exclama- 
tion, "Behold I and the children which God hath 

given me" — 

"No wanderer lost — 
A family in Heaven.-' 

" Up to that world of light, 
Take us, dear Saviour; 
May we all there unite 
Happy forever. 
Where kindred spirits dwell, 
There may our music swell, 
And time our joys dispel — 
Never — no, never!" 



THE END, 



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J A USEFUL AND ATTRACTIVE SERIES OF BOOKS FOR 

J YOUNG PEOPLE: 

| EMBRACING EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, 

AND LIVES OF ITS DISTINGUISHED MEN. 
I Written with much care, and in an entertaining and instructive manner. 

| WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND BEAUTIFULLY 
\ ILLUMINATED TITLE PAGES. 



LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Franklin as a Tallow Chandler. 
Franklin at the Printing Press. 
Franklin's first Arrival in Philadelphia. 
Franklin acting as his own Porter. 



The Philadelphia Library, founded by Franklin. 
Franklin attracting Lightning from the Clouds. 
Franklin Signing the Declaration of Independence. 
Franklin as a Statesman. 



LIFE OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Washington at Eighteen. 
Washington Crossing the Alleghany. 
Surrender of Cornwallis. 
A View of Mount Vernon. 



I Washington Crossing the Delaware. 
| Washington at Valley Forge. 
I The Washington Family. 
The Tomb of Washington. 



LIFE OF LAFAYETTE. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Lafayette as Commander of the National Guard. 
Lafayette Offering his Services to Washington. 
Lafayette at the Battle of Brandywine. 
Battie of Monmouth. 



Lafayette's Final Interview with Washington. 
Lafayette's Arrival at New York. 
Triumphal Arch at Philadelphia. 
Lafayette's Tomb. 



LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait of William Penn. 

Ship Welcome— Perm's First Voyage. 

Arrival of Penn at Chester. 

The Penn Cottage. 



Penn's Treaty with the Indians. 
Perm's Mansion at Philadelphia. 
Penn's Last Arrival in England. 



LIFE OF MARION. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Marion as a Trooper. 

The Last Shot. 

Marion and the Raw Recruits. 

Sergeant McDonald and the Tory. 



I The Famous Potato Dinner. 

| Colonel Campbell taken Prisoner. 

Macdonald's Message to Colonel Watson. 
| Mrs. Motte and the Bow and Arrows. 



LIFE OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Young Daniel at the Saw Mill. 
Webster Fishing at Fryburg. 
Webster Declining the Clerkship. 
Webster Expounding the Constitution. 



The Bunker Hill Celebration. 
Webster at Faneuil Hall. 
Marshfield, the Residence of Webster. 
Webster on his Farm. 



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LINDSAY & BLAKISTON'S PUBLICATIONS, 



\ 



LIFE OF HENRY CLAY. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



4 Henry Clay the Statesman. 

4 The Villa-e School. 

$ The Binhnlace of Clay. 

J The Mill Bov of the Slashes. 



The Debating Society. ' 

Bolivar Reading Clay's Speech to the Army. 

The Residence of Mr. Clay. 

The Torchlight Procession. 



LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



A Portrait of Jackson. 
Jackson's Presence of Mind. 
Jackson's Narrow Escape. 
Jackson and the Acorns. 



I Jackson as Judge. 

I Jackson and the Indian Prisoners. 

I The Cattle of New Orleans. 

I Jackson at the Hermitage. 



LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Napoleon's Snow Fortress. 
The Battle of the Pyramids. 
Napoleon's Retreat from Russia. 
Napoleon's Return from Elba. 



The Bridge of Areola. 

The Battle of Marengo. 

Napoleon before the Battle of Austerlitz. 

Napoleon Drawing a Plan of Attack. 



THE YANKEE TEA-PARTY, 

AND OTHER STORIES OF THE REVOLUTION. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Boston Tea-Party. 
Hezekiah Wyman. 
Mr. Bieeker and his Son. 
Tarleton Breaking the Horse. 



1 Lee's Legion. 

I Seizure of the Bettys. 

Exploit of Colonel McLain. 
I General Morgan. 



THE OLD BELL OF INDEPENDENCE, 

OR PHILADELPHIA IN 1776. 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Old State House Bell. 
Washington's Prayer for the Dying Soldier. 
Defeat of the Skinners at Deadman's Lake. 
> The Story of the Half-Breed. 



The Ou'laws of the Pines. 

The Battle of the Kegs. 

Capture uf General Prescott. 

Riley going to the Place of Execution. 



LIFE OF GENERAL TAYLOR. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Portrait of General Taylor. 
Defence of Foit Harrison. 
Battle oi'Okee Chohee. 
Capture of General La Vega. 



I The Streets of Monterey. 
I Capitulation of Monterey. 

General Taylor Never Surrenders, 
j Charge of the Kentuckians at Buena VL^ta. 



i 



up in Boxes, $G 75. 



fegf Each of these volumes is well written, in a high, moral tone, by respon- | 

sihle authors, and contains numerous anecdotes, illustrative of the early and latter \ 

Instory of our country. The compact style in which these works are written, as £ 

well as their low price, make them well adapted for Family, School, or District \ 

Libraries. < 

l'rice per Volume, 56j Cents, Cloth gilt. In Setts, neatly done / 



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LINDSAY &, BLAKISTON'S PUBLICATIONS, 

. . / 

THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY LIBRARY. 

THE WOMEN OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT. 

SCENES IN THE LIFE OF THE SAVIOUR. 

SCENES IN THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS AND 
PROPHETS. 

SCENES IN THE LIVES OF THE APOSTLES. 

Neat 12mo. Volumes, with Illustrations. Price per volume, in Cloth, Plain 
Edges, Gilt Backs, 75 cents. Full Gilt Edges, $1 00. In Setts, Cloth, Plain, 
$3 00. In Full Gilt, $4 00. 

THE CHESTERFIELDIAN LIBRARY. 

MANUALS FOR THE POCKET OR CENTRE-TABLE. 



THE YOUNG HUSBAND, 

A MANUAL OF THE DUTIES, MORAL, RELIGIOUS, AND DOMESTIC, 
IMPOSED BY THE RELATIONS OF MARRIED LIFE. 



THE YOUNG WIFE, 

A MANUAL OF MORAL, RELIGIOUS, AND DOMESTIC DUTIES, 

BEING A COMPANION TO "THE YOUNG IIUSBAND. 3 ' 



ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN, 

OR, SHORT RULES AND REFLECTIONS FOR CONDUCT IN SOCIETY. 



ETIQUETTE FOR LADIES, 

WITH HINTS ON THE PRESERVATION, IMPROVEMENT, ETC., 
OF FEMALE REAUTY. 



THE HAND-BOOK OF ETIQUETTE, 

OR CANONS OF GOOD BREEDING. 

BY THE AUTHOR OP "ETIQUETTE FOR GENTLEMEN." 



JOHNSON'S POCKET DICTIONARY. 

A NEW AND REVISED EDITION. WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 

Each volume neatly bound in Cloth, Gilt Backs, with an Illuminated Frontis- 
piece. Price 38 cents, or in Full Gilt, 50 cents. In Setts, Cloth, Plain, $2 25; 
Full Gilt, $3 00. 



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